Wine Red no Kokoro
by blackberet
Summary: Everyone knows and loves Karen, HM64's feisty bar maid, but there's a lot more to her than a pretty face. For the first time, she tells her story.
1. Prologue: This Is My Story

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental, but you knew that. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Prologue: This is My Story  
  
**********  
  
Wine.  
It isn't blood that flows through my body, it's red wine. The feel of the cool, sweet wine running down my throat and the release, the escape from life into the oblivion of drunkenness where I could forget...that's what kept me alive. Wine's the reason I'm still here to tell the story, too.  
I could point to a lot of people that helped. The best friend, the parents, the man. But the person who shaped the events that I'm going to tell you about most for me was probably my grandmother. My blood was once hers.  
  
Her name was Eve, and her father started this vineyard three generations before me. Somehow--I only asked once and then never tried again, because talking about it upset my father--her parents died, and so she was raised by her grandfather.  
But my great-great grandfather was a mountain man, and Grandma had to fend for herself a lot. Like me, she worked at the bar to make ends meet. When her parents died, though, the vineyard was abandoned. The mayor told her she had thirty days to find someone to take it over, or they would have to tear it down. This was in the days when the village was really struggling, and if the vineyard couldn't be any use to them, it would have to be replaced by something that could.  
My father used to like to tell the story she always told him about it: how she went up to the vineyard alone one night that fall. She was walking around, looking out at the last few grapevines dying in the darkness, and she thought about her father's dream of having a wonderful vineyard and started to cry. Grandma was never a religious person--a family like ours that built its roots out of grapevines never could be--but she fell to her knees at the foot of the huge old Spirit Tree and started to pray.  
No one--least of all Grandma--knew how long she stayed there, wishing with all her heart that there was something she could do, but suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a great silver light descend on the grapevines. She started running, but when she came closer, saw that the light was really thousands of tiny fairies. As she watched, she realized that the fairies were kissing the withered, dying grapes, and those grapes were growing fat and round and rich purple.  
There's a legend around here of the Kifu fairies, the spirits of the grapevines, and from that time it's been passed down in our family: pray to the Kifu fairies, and they will watch over you.  
It was then that she realized that she was the one who had to save the vineyard.  
  
And Grandma raised that vineyard out of the dust and into the sky. Those few lonely grapevines expanded into a vast crop, long row after row stretching into the distance. With her hard work and the blessing of the Kifu fairies, the grapes grew until they were the richest, best grapes anywhere.  
She loved creating new kinds of wine, and she'd use anything she could find--not just the grapes from the vines, but wild grapes, and berries, and even flower petals or herbs. And they were great wines. Ask a wine expert about Starlight Rain, or Dying Ember, or one of my favorites, Scarlet Sonata--and their eyes will still light up as they talk about the flavor. But the wine that made her famous was the Door to Heaven.  
We all call it Heaven's Gate, and it is the best wine in the world.  
I realize that makes it sound like I'm just saying it to plug the vineyard. I'm not. It was on all the best-wine lists for years. And each year, we shipped a very small amount out--at astronomical prices--and let the rest of the buyers come to us, begging for just one bottle. It made the vineyard famous, it made the bar famous, it made the village famous.  
It was like magic!  
  
Eventually Grandma got married and had my father. She stopped working at the bar then, and she focused all her energy on the vineyard. She had the skills and the energy to do it, and she never forgot to pray for the Kifu fairies to come and bless the grapes.  
She kept creating more wines, but the Door to Heaven got better and better every year, inching up the wine lists until that incredible decade when it was the best wine for all ten years--the only wine ever to remain that long.  
But as Grandma's husband died and her son grew up and her beautiful blonde hair began to fade to gray, the wine gradually slipped down to number two, and there it stayed. There was no question--my grandmother was dying.  
  
I was born then, in the dead of winter, a time when the drops of wine froze like blood in the snow and the grapes were gone once again. My mother and my grandmother were lying in separate rooms, each moaning and crying out--my mother with the pain of life, my grandmother with the pain of death.  
I finally made my way into the world on the stroke of midnight on the 29th of Winter, my mother sobbing with exhaustion and joy. And then my grandmother came in.  
I have no memory of her face. Sometimes I think I can almost feel her arms around me, see the long hair falling down her shoulders, hear her voice singing to me. I know this has to be an image I've come up with based on what my parents have told me, but it doesn't feel like it. I've heard the story a thousand times, and it's always a little different, but the one thing that always remains the same: the last words she said to me.  
"Save it when I'm gone. You are the chosen one. You are my legacy in this life."  
Then she set me down, carefully, in my mother's arms, pressed a tiny jar of seashells into my hand, and left the room. In the morning she was dead.  
  
I don't remember exactly when it started. For a few years after I was born, everything was all right. Even without Grandma there to walk the grapevines, we still had enough of her wine to last. The wine that had been made since her death was still being aged.  
When the first of that wine hit the sommeliers...  
It took less than a year for the Door to Heaven to plunge from the top of the best lists to the top of the worst. We lost all the fame and glory that Grandma had worked so hard for. The grapevines were the same, but the grapes were all different. We did everything the way she had, but our wine was still bitter, our grapes still small and weak.  
My father no longer danced with Mom and me when he drank. But he drank more often, spending his nights at the bar. He started yelling more often. Mom started crying at night, when she thought I couldn't see her. Everything was falling apart.  
Dad never hit me or Mom, and I'm grateful for that. But there were days when I wished he would, when even being beaten would have felt better than his furious shouting.  
When that's happening to you, when you're being abused in any way, you react in one of two ways. You start hiding, going inside yourself, moving through each day like a shadow, just trying not to get yelled at. Or you fight.  
I was a fighter.  
From the time I was five years old, I'd decided that I wasn't going to cry any more. I was going to fight back.  
He never hit me, never used his strength to hurt me. But he screamed until my ears were ringing and involuntary tears of pain streamed down my cheeks, and then he would lock me alone in the darkness of the wine cellar.  
  
Normally he would come get me after an hour or two alone in there, give me a talking-to about how what I did--whatever I'd done--was wrong, then give me a hug and let me go. But this time it was three hours and he still hadn't come. I was starting to get frightened.  
A sinking feeling grew in the pit of my stomach. I was hungry, and I was afraid that there might be spiders in there. I wanted to go home. I started banging on the walls, hysterically, yelling for Daddy to come let and let me out.  
"Daddy! I'll never get in trouble again! Please open!" I cried. There was no answer. I knew he had to hear me. But he wouldn't let me out!  
I realized that I might starve there, alone in the darkness. That thought scared me more than anything, and I started screaming, "Let me out! I'll die!" I hurled myself against the wall, but no one answered me, and I started to sob.  
I howled in terror and pain for a few more minutes, and then I stopped suddenly and realized that I was angry. My daddy had locked me in a wine cellar to die. I kicked the door with all my strength.  
"Hi," a voice said behind me.  
"Oh..." I jumped and turned. "Who are you? Where did you come from?"  
It was a boy, about my age. He was wearing overalls with muddy sneakers and a blue and orange baseball cap. "I came from the farm," he explained.  
I just looked at him. He came up to me, totally unafraid, and wiped a tear off my face.  
"How did you get in?" I asked suspiciously, still sniffling.  
He pointed to a piece of the wall next to one of the big machines. In the half-light, I could just make out the hole.  
"Wow, there is a hole here..." I murmured.  
"Come on. You can fit through," he said, grabbing my hand to help me out.  
The sun was setting when we got out, the sky a bright pink. "Where do you live?" he asked me.  
I felt a flash of panic and shook my head quickly. "My daddy is angry, so I can't go home..."  
"Why not?" he asked curiously.  
"He made me go in there. He said I was being bad. But I didn't break that bottle of wine! It wasn't me!" I was getting worked up. "You believe me, right?!" I demanded.  
"Yeah," he agreed. There was a long pause. I stood, my feet firmly rooted to the ground in case he tried to make me go home. If he did, I would slug him.  
After a minute, he held out his hand.  
"Come on," he said. "We'll go home together."  
Slowly, I took his hand. It was warm, and being with someone made me feel stronger. Together, we started across the yard.  
We got as far as the door before I started feeling scared again, but he squeezed my hand and I felt a little better. Then he started to knock, but the door swung open and my mother was standing there, Daddy behind her.  
"Karen..." Mommy said.  
"Mommy!" I cried, clinging to her leg.  
"I brought her home," the boy said behind me. "She got locked in over there."  
Daddy didn't say anything, but Mommy picked me up and asked me, "Karen, did he take you home?"  
I nodded. "He found a big hole and saved me."  
"Thank you very much," she told him. I echoed, "Thank you! I'll see you later!"  
  
The next day he came to the vineyard again. He said he was new and hadn't made any friends yet. So I said I'd show him around some, and I took him to the beach. We spent the whole day there, swimming, and the next day he told me he'd show me the best tree for climbing, and we went there. Eventually we ended up spending the entire summer together.  
I never really went through the boys-are-icky stage--most of us here don't. With so few kids on the island, we all got used to playing with whoever was around and wanted to be friends. You refuse to play with half the kids on the island, you spend a lot of time alone, so the two of us got along well. But that summer...I don't know.  
I've never believed in things like destiny and fate. I believe that I control my own life, that I am the one that will decide the outcome. And I don't believe in premonitions, but that summer, when I was five years old... I can remember, with a strange clarity, thinking that this was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.  
  
Everyone remembers their first love. And everyone remembers, too, the last time they saw them, that last moment together before you say goodbye for the final time. For me, that day came on the twenty-ninth of Summer.  
We went up to Moon Mountain, the very top, and we lay on our backs on the ground and watched the clouds.  
"I'm leaving tomorrow," he said suddenly, snapping me out of my daze. I was actually half asleep by that point.  
I rolled over to face him. "I have something for you."  
"What?" he wanted to know. I rummaged around in my pocket for the gift Mom had given me. Then I pulled it out and looked at it: a music box, still warm from being in my pocket, shining in the sun.  
"This used to be my mom's," I told him. "She said that if you give it to someone you like, they'll be with you forever." I looked down, flicking the little gold clasp on the lid back and forth, back and forth. "I wanted to give it to you."  
He held out his hands, and I put it in. He slid the clasp up and opened it. The tiny dancer, with her blonde hair and green eyes, spun slowly in front of the mirror, looking like my mother. The music began playing, drifting softly on the breeze.  
He was silent for a moment, and then he said, "I'll give it back to you someday."  
I frowned. Why didn't he like it? "Why? I gave it to you."  
"I'll have to come back to give it to you, right?" he asked. I nodded. "It just means that I'll come back to you again."  
I nodded, thought for a second, then blurted out, "Let's get married someday!"  
He grinned and agreed. "Okay. I'll give the music box back to you, and then we can get married."  
For a while no one said anything. The only sound was the melody, floating slowly out to the horizon. I knew that song; it was Dance Under the Moon. My mother used to sing it to me when I was very small. Quietly, I started singing, and then he joined in. But I can't listen to music and not dance, so before long I was on my feet, spinning like a leaf on the wind. He stood and we danced together, totally unafraid and free, and I didn't want the moment to ever end.  
It was the last time I saw him.  
  
He left, taking the music box and a little bit of my heart with him, and gradually I tried to forget. After a while, I couldn't remember his name, the colors of the sky faded in my mind, the pain dulled.  
My father began to drink more and more, spending almost every evening at the bar while the grapevines faded and died once more. One night I snuck out after he'd gone to the bar, and when he left, I ducked in and begged for a job there. I still don't know why. The psychologists would probably say that I wanted to be near him, or that I was desperate for approval, and maybe they're right. But the pay was good, and it wasn't hard to sneak drinks. Duke had arrived only a few weeks earlier, from a town far to the north. I never heard the whole story--bartenders hear a lot of stories, but they don't talk much about their own--but I think there was a fire, and his wife and daughter died. He came to live at the bakery with his nephew, Jeff.  
Duke looked at me and almost started crying. Of course, when you're a kid, you hate to see adults cry, but Jeff told me it was okay. "It's nothing you did," he whispered. "You look like his daughter." Duke agreed to give me a job, waiting tables a few nights a week.  
I was doing full time, at least five nights a week and making and serving drinks too, by the time I was fifteen. That was the year Kai showed up.  
Kai originally came from a poor farming town, I think somewhere in the south. His family--him, his parents, and four brothers--grew oranges. But they didn't make enough money, and if the crop that year was bad, the family would begin to starve.  
He ran away without telling them, intending to get to the city and get a job there, maybe send for them in a few years if he could. I'm still not sure how he ended up at the gates of our vineyard one evening in early fall that year--sometimes ships will stop at the island, or maybe there was a shipwreck--but that's where I found him one morning, wiry, strong- looking, with a purple bandana and worn brown clothes, asking if there was some job he could do for food. It was the fall harvest. Cliff--my cousin-- had been working there until he, too, had run away--and with only the three of us, we were desperate for help. Dad hired him on the spot. He never left.  
  
But even with Kai's help, the vineyard got worse and worse, and my father got angrier and angrier. But we managed for a long time until the year that everything blew up in our faces.  
I was nineteen. It had been ten years since I started working at the bar, five years since Kai had started working at the vineyard. Twenty years after my grandmother died.  
It was the year the inevitable collapse of the vineyard finally came. The year my first love returned. The year when the world started to crumble at my feet...and the year when I started to rebuild it.  
My name is Karen, and this is my story.  
  
**********  
  
Author's Note:  
  
Shameless plug (and then I swear I'll stop): If you're a Karen fan, you might want to check out my shrine to her, ::wine red no kokoro::, which is located at . I tend to be a little slow with updates (^_^;;;;), but the site houses information about Harvest Moon and Karen, fanfiction and fanart, and some cutesy things like coloring book pages and goodies for your computer.  
  
There, now I can lay off the plugs. Please enjoy the rest of the story! ^__^ 


	2. The Obligatory Cherry Blossom Scene

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 1: The Obligatory Cherry-Blossom Scene  
  
**********  
  
The breeze danced past my face, leaving my hair drifting behind it. I could see the cherry blossoms floating on the wind. One landed on the ground in front of me, and I kicked it away. I hate the sight of the pink flowers, smiling like they're mocking me. Cherry blossoms have always reminded me of death. They say my grandmother died the day they bloomed, too.  
Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement and turned. Someone was coming up from the village. I set down the bucket I was holding to shade my eyes against the sun. I could see the bright blue and orange of a baseball cap. The person was walking slowly, shoulders slumped, toward the old farm. But no one lived there except the old man. I hopped up onto the fence, straining to get a closer look.  
"KAREN!" someone bellowed. I flailed and toppled over, my face in the dust. Spitting, I looked up to see my so-called father, Gotz. "What?!" I snapped.  
"Stop standing around and work! We're gonna have a big order coming in!" My father likes to think of himself as the strong, silent type, which I always assumed was because he had nothing to say. But he was talking now, which in my experience was a bad sign.  
"Why?" I asked, still annoyed.  
"Why?" mimicked my father in a smarmy high-pitched voice that I assume was supposed to be me. "Because the geezer at the farm just died! We're going to be working overtime getting the wine ready for the wake tonight!"  
"What about the stuff we've already made?" I asked.  
"Gone! Get up and do something!" He was glaring down at me, and for a minute I wanted to punch him. It'd be so easy to jerk his ankle out from under him and send him tumbling to the dirt. I managed to stop myself in time--he's a lot bigger than I am. So I settled for muttering under my breath and started to pick myself up. He stalked off, disgusted.  
"Are you all right?" A strong hand grabbed mine and pulled me onto my feet. Kai, the only worker besides my family at this godforsaken vineyard, was looking at me with concern.  
"I'm fine!" I snapped angrily, brushing the dust off my vest. I could feel tears pricking the corners of my eyes, and I whirled away from him.  
He looked pretty scared, but he reached out to touch my arm. I swung my right fist around hard and caught him on the shoulder. "Just go away," I whispered.  
"Karen! Why aren't you working?!" my father bellowed.  
I spun violently to face him. "I'm sick of you! I can't even stop to talk for two seconds! We both can't stand each other, so why don't you just let me go to the city and we'll never have to look at each other again!  
"What are you talking about?!" he snapped. "I won't let you go to the city. You're staying right here!"  
I yelled at the top of my lungs, "What a terrible father! You should let me have my way!" I stormed out of the vineyard. Behind me I heard "What!! Don't be so selfish, Karen! What an undutiful daughter!"  
I didn't really care.  
  
The last rays of sunlight were dying, and I'd been on my feet since before dawn. I also had a killer headache, and I was definitely not in the best mood.  
"Look," I explained again to the shipper. "You've reached your limit. I can't serve you any more drinks." He started to protest, but I snatched the mug off the table and pushed him toward the door. "Go home," I ordered before he could say anything.  
He left, muttering under his breath. I wasn't worried. The bar was the only place in town to go at night. He'd be back.  
Kai was in his regular seat by the wall, staring into his mug as if it held the answer to all the world's problems. Jeff, the bakery master, was at the bar. My father the tyrant hadn't showed up, for which I was thankful. It wasn't like I'd get fired if the customers saw us fighting. Everyone there was a regular. I just didn't want to have to look at his face.  
That was part of the problem, actually. Everyone everywhere was a regular. I'd spent my entire life with the same people. Except for Kai, who'd arrived a few years ago, everyone in the village had been there for as long as I could remember. There was never anyone new to talk to, never anything new happening. I went through the same boring routine every day--same chores, fight with Gotzicus Rex, work in the bar at night. And I was wiping the tables down furiously and going on like this in my head when the door opened.  
I jumped and spun around to see a stranger standing in the doorway. He wore a blue and orange baseball cap, a pair of overalls that looked new (not to mention expensive), and a red bandana around his neck. He just stood there for a second, looking lost, then walked in slowly and sat down at a table by himself.  
I sighed, rubbed my aching temples, and came over, trying to force a smile on my face. "Can I get you anything?"  
He turned around and stared at me. "Umm...yeah..."  
I put my hands on my hips and waited for the order. After thirty seconds of silence, I asked, "What?"  
The guy was still looking at me. "What do you have?"  
I was ready to scream. "The menu is on the table. When you figure it out, call me." My head was pounding, and I crossed behind the counter.  
"You want to go home?" Duke whispered.  
"Nah," I muttered back. "I gotta be here. Besides, I really don't feel like going home."  
"Take a break then," he told me.  
"Thanks," I murmured gratefully, and fixed myself a glass of wine. I was just about to sit down when the guy called over to me, "I'm ready."  
I flexed my hands in a strangling motion and walked back to him. "What'll it be?"  
"I'll have the Wild Grape wine," he said.  
I couldn't hold back a laugh. "You? I think you meant to order a Shirley Temple."  
He shot me a look like frost daggers. "Look, it hasn't been the best day. Can I have the drink without the sarcasm?"  
I slammed a hand on the table. "You think you're the only one who's allowed to feel lousy? Think again, pal." Whoa. Where did that one come from?  
He glared back, his face inches from mine. "Your grandfather died yesterday too?"  
Realization dawned. "You're the old man's grandson?"  
The kid nodded. "Yeah. I'm restoring the farm."  
I laughed again, a short barking noise that sounded bitter. "Good luck. I've seen that dump. It'd be impossible for anyone to bring back, especially a city kid like you."  
"How do you figure?"  
"Maybe you haven't seen the shape that dive is in. The fields are a wreck, the house looks like a typhoon hit it...any animals in the barn have long since started rotting. And you seriously expect me to believe that you can bring it back, Mr. Armani- Overalls in your pristine white gloves? Give me a break. You really think people around here are that dumb?"  
His eyes narrowed. "I'll show you."  
"I'm sure." I stomped back to Duke. "I think I'll take that offer to knock off early tonight." Then I walked out without a backward glance.  
As the door closed behind me I heard Kai's voice, calm and soothing. I didn't want to hear him. I didn't want to go back home and get yelled at. Without knowing why, I started to run. The words pounded in my head. 'It'd be impossible for anyone to bring back...'  
Just like the vineyard.  
  
I woke up the next morning in a strange bed and panicked. It took me a long time to recognize Ann's room at the Green Ranch. But I couldn't remember going there the night before.  
I crawled out of the bed and saw the blanket piled up on the floor, and I realized what must have happened. Ann must've slept on the floor so I could have the bed.  
But how'd I wind up at the ranch?  
She came in while I was sorting it all out. "Good morning, Karen," she said cheerfully. "Are you feeling all right?"  
I brushed a lock of blonde hair out of my eyes. "What happened?"  
She started folding the blanket. "I found you lying at the gate to the ranch last night. Gray helped me get you here. What...?" She trailed off.  
"I'm not entirely sure," I answered her unspoken question. "I left the bar and I was running. I had a big fight with Dad yesterday and I didn't want to go home, so I tried to find somewhere to go off the road."  
Ann set the blanket on top of the bed and handed me a glass of milk. "You know, Kai was here this morning."  
"Yeah?" I asked.  
"Yeah. He was pretty worried about you. He said you got into a fight with some guy." She was pumping me now, in the sideways way that all best friends have. It didn't really bother me.  
"That new guy, the old man's grandson." I clenched my fists, feeling renewed anger. "He's a total jerk."  
"Hmmm." She shrugged. "I've seen that city boy. Forget about him--I think Kai likes you."  
"Ugh." The pillow hit her in the head. "You're nuts."  
She shrugged again and grinned. "Hey, I've gotta go run some errands in the village, and then I'm going up to the mountains. You want to come?"  
"Naaah." I stood up and ran my fingers through my tangled hair. "I gotta face the music sometime."  
"Are you sure?" she asked, looking concerned.  
"Yeah." She walked me to the door. "Thanks for everything, Ann."  
"No problem!" She flashed her trademark grin. "Take care of yourself, okay, Karen?"  
I nodded and started for home. But then I happened to look over the fence and saw one of the horses was missing. The little pony--the brother of their prize horse, Cliffguard.  
"Hey, Ann!" I called back. "What happened to Cliff's brother?"  
She blushed. "I...I gave it to the old man's grandson."  
I stared at her. "Just because he's new here!" she protested. "Since Gray can't race anymore, we need someone to participate in the horse races for us. I told him I'd give him Cliff's brother if he'd agree to race."  
"That jerk..." I muttered, my mood darker again. I started trudging home, taking my time--Dad would still be there when I got back.  
  
Dad went ballistic, of course. I wanted to scream at him again, but then again, he was right this time, so what was I supposed to say? And I really didn't feel like another fight, which was what started the whole thing in the first place. So I took it and shuffled back out to work.  
Two hours later, I was totally exhausted. I'd really thrown myself into it today. It was warm for spring, and my hair was limply down my back. Finally I dropped my vest on the ground and kept working in shorts and the tank top. The dust was starting to stick to my skin.  
I'd just gotten down on my hands and knees to finish the planting when a voice behind me said "Hello." I craned my head around to see him, Farm Boy in the flesh.  
I turned back to working. "What do you want?" I snarled over my shoulder.  
He stopped for a second, probably nervous. If Kai was any indication, I seemed to have that effect on people. Then he said "I wanted to apologize about last night. I was in a bad mood and I shouldn't've taken it out on you."  
"Save your breath. I don't care," I told him.  
"Yeah, that's what Kai told me you'd say." Farm Boy sounded a little annoyed, but not as angry as the night before. "Anyway, I brought you something." He fished around in his rucksack and came up with three blue berries.  
That got my attention. I actually turned to face him. "Kyaa...Veryberries?"  
"Yeah." He adjusted his hat. "I heard that you like them, right?"  
I gave him a sharp nod and set the berries carefully down on my vest, then turned back to work. "Don't talk to me so much," I said.  
He turned and walked back down the path. I started thinking about Veryberry wine. 


	3. Off To the Races

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 2: Off to the Races  
  
**********  
  
Spring days seem to drag on forever. Get up. Do your chores all day. An hour off for lunch. No dinner break. Get to the bar by five-thirty, be ready to open at six, work until midnight. Six hours of sleep before you do it all again. Unlike Fall, though, I got a day or two off. The bar was closed Sunday nights, and I took off on the weekends. I spent most of my free time at the beach, watching the water. I fished some. Practiced my dancing.  
All the days fade together, too. You can't remember whether you had eggs for breakfast this morning or yesterday, and then you remember you had eggs both mornings. And every morning you can remember before that. The only break in the pattern is rain, which farmers pray for and the rest of us loathe. Rain days are scramble days at the vineyard. Get things set up so the grapevines don't get waterlogged, check the wine cellar to make sure water isn't coming in anywhere. No one cares about the house: protect the wine at all costs. The wine and the grapevines are more important than anything else.  
Even the Spring festivals aren't that interesting: half the time I don't even bother coming to the Sowing Festival, and the only reason I show up at the horse race is to cheer for Cliffguard. And it's usually an okay excuse to drink.  
  
Ann and I split a big bucket of French fries, of which she ate almost none. She couldn't sit still. She was jumping up and down and running to the edge of the track and studying the racing forum and just generally making me nervous. I tried to get Gray to come over and make her sit still, but he just said, "Hmph" and went back to leaning on the railing, staring at the track. He looked so desolate that for a minute I felt like going over and giving him a hug. He'd really taken the accident hard. He loved riding more than anyone I knew, and now they were saying he'd never do it again. I knew we all wished we had a doctor in the village- -because we didn't, we'd been unable to save Ann's mother when she'd been sick, unable to help Gray.  
I pushed those thoughts out of my mind and tried to calm Ann down (by dumping half a blue raspberry slushie out over her head, but hey, it was for a good cause). She was a total wreck by the time the first race started.  
We watched it without too much interest--Pikls pulled ahead of Star.C coming around the bend for a photo finish, though--and I had time to slip out and get to the ticket counter to pick up a few tickets.  
The guy in front of me in line stepped back suddenly, slamming into me. "Hey!" I barked. "Watch where you're going!" He turned around. Of course it was Farm Boy.  
"Jeez, that was cold," he said, rubbing his back where my elbow had jammed into it.  
"What are you doing here? I thought Ann gave you that pony so you could race on it," I snapped.  
"It's not full grown enough yet. I figured I might as well play the odds a little while I'm here," he replied. "And what are you doing here? Should've figured a bar girl would be a gambler."  
The uppercut caught him hard on the jaw. I followed with a sharper punch to the stomach. "You're a jerk, you know that?" I snarled. Then I stepped around him to the counter, put ten tickets on Cliff, and headed back to Ann.  
Her nails were already bitten down to the quick, and her arms were wrapped around Gray's neck almost to the point of strangulation. "Ahh, look!" she yelled. "Cliff and Jake are down on the track!" Jake was the replacement jockey since Gray's accident. He was our age, but he would never be as good as Gray had been.  
We were leaning over the railing about as far as we could get. Suddenly the gunshot sounded, and the horses were off. Cliff was losing most of the way, but at the last second, he came from behind and pulled ahead to win.  
"Hah! YES!" all three of us shrieked us in unison. Ann vaulted down over the railing onto the track to congratulate the prize horse. I tore off in the other direction to claim my winnings. I love the sound of coins clinking together in the leather money bag. It's one of the most beautiful sounds on earth.  
I won some more on the last race, and Ann was just ecstatic, so I was happy. I passed Farm Boy on the way out. He tried to talk to me, but I just kept walking.  
  
"I'm sorry I was rude again," he said the next morning.  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I refused to look at him. If he hadn't stood there tapping me on the shoulder for five minutes, I would've ignored his presence totally.  
"Look, I know I can be a creep sometimes. I meant it as a joke. I'm sorry if it came off as an insult. I don't think of you that way."  
"Keep going."  
"Can I take you out to dinner some night or something to make up for it?" he asked.  
My jaw dropped, but I recovered fast. "What?"  
"I'm serious. I'd like a chance to prove that I'm not always a complete jerk, and I'd like to get to know you better."  
"Drop dead," I suggested.  
Farm Boy sighed. "All right. At least take this." He tried to hand me a small bag of checkered red cloth. I let it drop between our hands. He scooped it up and set it by the fence. "See you later," he said, waving, and took off.  
I didn't say anything, just kept working until he was out of earshot. When I couldn't see him anymore, I opened the little bag. Inside were three Veryberries, a slice of strawberry cake, and a note that read: "I'm sorry for what happened yesterday. Please accept this as my apology." It was unsigned, so I still didn't know his name. Not that I cared.  
I picked up one of the Veryberries and popped it into my mouth after making sure that no one was watching. It wasn't like I was caving in or anything. He was still a creep. But there's no reason to pass up free food, right?  
Right?  
  
**********  
  
Author's Note:  
  
In case anyone's wondering, the title "Wine Red no Kokoro" comes from a song sung by the Japanese band Anzen Chitai in the 1980s and later covered by popular singer and anime seiyuu (voice actress-of famous roles like Evangelion's Shinji) Megumi Ogata. It translates to something like "A Heart of Wine Red" or "A Wine Red-Colored Heart," which seemed appropriate for Karen. 


	4. Family Matters

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 3: Family Matters  
  
**********  
  
"Get out! OUT!" my father roared. I ran, teardrops already splotching the dry earth around me.  
Harris was just opening the mailbox when I charged through the gates of the Green Ranch. He ducked out of the way, nearly slamming into a scowling Gray. I could just hear the sound of yaoi writers everywhere picking up their pencils. Good, let them suffer.  
I hit a rock in the pasture and went down hard, slamming my face into the ground. I heard someone cry out, and I looked up to see Ann looking down at me.  
"Karen, are you okay?" Ann asked, helping me up. "What happened?"  
"The usual." I ran my fingers through my hair, getting the dirt out. "My father's being a total creep. And then Kai starts in with his 'Miss Karen, please make up with your father' crap. It's enough to make me sick."  
"Sit down!" She grabbed my arm and dragged me to a chair inside. "Cliff," she ordered, "don't just stand there! Get her something to eat!"  
"Cliff?" I blurted out, nearly giving myself whiplash whirling my neck around to see who she was talking to.  
"Oh, yeah!" Ann pounced on someone standing in the corner and dragged him over. "This is Cliff. He's new around here. He's been wandering around for a while, but now he's doing a few odd jobs for us."  
I looked at the brown clothes, the messy blond ponytail. "You moron," I laughed, "that's my cousin."  
He did a double take. "Karen?"  
"Yep, one and the same. Where have you been these last few years?" I asked. I was recovering from my anger pretty fast. Ann peered in to study his face, then smacked herself on the forehead.  
Cliff replied, "Wandering around, mostly. I've seen all kinds of things..."  
I leaned back, waiting for the story, and then Ann burst in. "Hey, hey, eat first, talk later! Cliff, go get her food already!"  
He pulled away from Ann and came back with a plate of fish, eggs, and some cookies. "Eat!" she ordered. When Ann starts throwing orders around, even cheerfully, you usually want to sit down, shut up, and do what she says. I ate.  
When I'd finished, she said, "Okay. Now tell me what you're gonna do."  
I took a deep breath. "Go back, I guess. There's not much else I can do."  
"You want me to come?" she asked. "Cliff and Cain can come along, too."  
"Cain?" I looked at Cliff. "You still have that bird?"  
"Cain's my best friend!" he snapped.  
"Karen!" Ann waved her hand in front of my face. "Do you want us to come?"  
I shrugged. "Nah. I'll go alone. There's no point in you getting bawled out too."  
The sun was setting by the time I finally got home. I got out of seeing my father--he was at bar, I guess, but it was my night off. Mom was lying facedown on the sofa, crying, when I came in.  
She looked up when she heard the door slam and instantly jumped to her feet. "Oh, Karen. I..."  
"Stop that," I said. She didn't move. "Stop crying!" I cried, without understanding why her tears made me so angry. She was just standing there silently, her tearstained face turned toward me, but her eyes unseeing. I turned and fled from the house.  
  
I was crouched in a corner of the wine cellar when Kai found me.  
"Miss Karen, what's wrong?" he asked.  
"Why would you care?" I snapped. "I'm so sick of everything!"  
"Everything?" he repeated.  
"I'm sick of seeing what Dad did to her! She cries all the time!" I clenched my fists. "If that's what marriage is like, I'd rather be alone all my life."  
He started to say something, but I wasn't finished. "I hate the way he drinks all the time. He used to be happy when he was drunk, but now he never stops yelling at me. I just wish I could leave and never look back!"  
I stopped and glanced up at Kai. He was gazing down at me with a quiet intensity.  
"You can," he said.  
"What?" I blurted out involuntarily.  
"You can leave, Miss Karen. The ferries to the mainland leave every week. You could leave this island tomorrow. In a few days, you'd be in the city, and you'd never have to return."  
As much as I'd talked about running away, the idea--the concept that I could actually leave, that I could do more than talk about it, had never occurred to me.  
Turning it over in my mind, I crossed the yard back into the house and my room. My mother's face was still tearstained. My father never said a word. 


	5. Knockin' on Heaven's Gate

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 4: Knockin' on Heaven's Gate  
  
**********  
  
The Flower Festival is not bad, as festivals go. Being the Goddess is a pain, though, because you have to dance with the king--who is old enough to be your father half the time, and who occasionally IS your father, which is really bad--and let's face it, the dress is annoying. So I usually vote for Ann if she wasn't the Goddess last year just because she's my best friend, and Popuri if Ann was it last year, because Popuri is the only one of the five of us who really cares about it. She lives for flowers.  
Popuri was the Goddess again this year, which was fine with the rest of us. I handed out flowers and smiled politely through my teeth and thought about Veryberry wine. The Mayor gave one of his speeches (he says all the time "you all know that I don't like making speeches" when everyone knows it's his favorite thing. He never misses an opportunity to lecture at us), and then it was time for the dancing.  
I love the dancing. My mother used to be one of the best dancers in the world. I can remember her teaching me when I was little, but she hadn't danced for years. She hovered by the stairs to my room all day, doing little things that didn't need doing, like straightening the things on the mantle as if it were life and death. She was constantly worrying, going through life with lines of pain on her face. My mother was beautiful once, but she had become old.  
I dance at the festivals every year. I decided early on that dancing was one thing my father could never take from me. And I knew that I was going to be a dancer. Popuri had her family's dream of keeping alive the flower shop--well, I had family dreams to keep alive, too. What I never did at the Flower Festival was dance with anyone else. Sometimes Ann and I would swing each other around just for something to do, but mostly I stayed on the floor alone, twirling and leaping to break the patterns of the others.  
I swept to the side of the square as usual, waiting until Popuri and the King--the Potion Shop owner this year, ugh--found each other, then the Mayor and his wife. I was leaning against the wall when I heard the Mayor say, "Go find someone to dance with!" and push Farm Boy in our direction.  
Elli shrugged and stepped forward--the pity dance--but he walked past her and stopped next to me. "Will you dance with me?" he asked.  
I darted a glance at Ann, who widened her eyes: your choice. Great. Thanks for the advice, my so-called best friend. Farm Boy stood there, waiting patiently, watching my eyes. I saw Kai behind him, also watching. Finally I gave up--I couldn't think of a good excuse. "Fine," I sighed.  
We walked out to the center of the square, and he awkwardly put his arms around me. I sighed again. This was gonna take forever.  
The music started, and we began to move. "Let me lead," I whispered, and he nodded slightly. I knew the steps perfectly--I'd seen them a thousand times, even though I'd never done them before. Farm Boy was better than I thought he'd be. I whirled around, feeling my hair fly, then stepping back in, watching him imitate the light, graceful leaps I was taking. My feet were moving on instinct, and by instinct, we were together almost perfectly. Glancing around at the birdlike hops of the two little old men in red and their partners, I realized we were the best ones there.  
For an instant, I felt something familiar. There was something about his hands in mine, something about his eyes that I knew. He felt like an old friend, and for a second I flashed back to a summer when I was five years old...but there was no way. I dismissed the thought almost as soon as I'd come up with it. He was just the old man's grandson, a stranger who would be here and then gone.  
In mid-spin, I caught his eyes. His face was flushed, but his eyes were bright. He gave me a quirky little grin, like, "So what do you think of me now?" and I had to stop myself from grinning back.  
  
I worked too late the next night and woke up with nothing to show for it except a hangover and another headache. As soon as I came downstairs my father started bawling me out. I tuned it out until he got to "...being lazy and slacking off around here."  
"What?" I asked. "Excuse me?"  
He shot me a glare through eyes like slits. "What else am I supposed to think, Karen? The grapes aren't taking! There's no excuse for it except laziness!"  
I dropped my dish on the table and ran outside. I knelt beside one of the grapevines and examined the roots. He was right. They weren't going down deep enough. The plants hadn't even grown yet and I knew that they would wither and die. Without roots, they never even had a chance.  
I heard footsteps behind me and looked back to see Kai. He bent down beside me and fingered one of the vines.  
"Why aren't they rooting, Kai? I've done everything right," I said.  
Kai was silent for a minute or two, then he answered, "I don't know. They just can't grow in this environment. Maybe it rained too much this year, or maybe the crickets have been here. It could be anything."  
I bent in closer to examine the vines. "Nothing's been eating them, and we haven't had rain in weeks. They just aren't growing."  
He didn't say anything. I was starting to feel helpless. Was Dad right? Maybe I had been spending too much time at the bar and neglecting the vineyard. I didn't really want to know the answer, but I had to ask the question. "Is Dad right, Kai?"  
"Right about what?" His gaze shifted from the plants to my face.  
"...he said that the third generation was always the one to run a place into the ground."  
"The third generation?" Kai's face was politely confused.  
"I'm the fourth. My great-grandfather started it, but my grandmother was the one who got this vineyard off the ground in the first place," I explained. "It used to be really famous. Her specialty wine, Heaven's Gate, was listed as one of the best wines in the world."  
"So what happened?" he wanted to know.  
"She died." I looked back at the grapevine so I wouldn't have to see his face. "My dad took over the vineyard, and everything changed. My grandmother put everything she had into these vines. She and Grandpa...this vineyard was their life. But Dad..." I trailed off.  
"But doesn't...doesn't the master care about the vineyard?" asked Kai.  
I shrugged. "I think he cares about it, but he doesn't know how to show it. He does the work, but his soul just isn't in it."  
"What happened to the Heaven's Gate? Can't you make any more?"  
"No. We tried for years. But we could never get it right. It was never the way Grandma made it. The sommeliers stopped recommending it. It took only a year to go from the top of the best wine list to the top of the worst."  
"Isn't there any more?" he asked.  
I shook my head. "No. There isn't a single bottle left in the world. And since Grandma died, the grapes have been slowly getting smaller and smaller, more and more sour, harder to grow. But this is the first year they've just refused to root."  
I stood and headed for the shed to get my tools. "What are you doing?" Kai called after me.  
I turned and looked at him. "I don't know if anything I do can save the vines now, Kai. But if I give up on them now, I know for a fact they're going to die. I can't let that happen. If they die, we don't eat this winter. I have to try."  
But I knew I was just going through the motions.  
  
It went on like that all spring. I'd get up, work from dawn until five at the vineyard. At five I'd shower, change into clean clothes, and put in six hours at the bar. The only time I stopped working was Sunday nights, when I'd go down by the river and practice dancing. Sometimes in the afternoon the carpenters would ask me to come at lunch to practice so they could watch. I started to find potatoes on my doorstep in the mornings.  
I got up early one morning and waited on the step one morning to catch whoever was leaving it. Farm Boy showed up at around six AM and did a sheepish double- take when he saw me.  
"What is it with the potatoes?" I asked irritably. I'm not really a morning person.  
He shot me that quirky grin. "Now that my farm's really getting off the ground, I thought you might like some fresh vegetables."  
I crossed my arms and leaned back on the step. "Define 'off the ground.'"  
Farm Boy rubbed the back of his head in a sweatdrop. "Ehh...well, I have most of the field cleared and planted, and I have two chickens now."  
"Yeah." I picked up the potato and handed it to him. "Look, I appreciate it, but I really don't want potatoes, okay?"  
He pressed it back into my hand. "Keep it. Give it to your mom or something."  
I dropped it into his rucksack. "My mom doesn't like potatoes."  
He set it on the step. "Someone around here has to eat them."  
I lobbed it at his head. "I don't want the potato!"  
Farm Boy stumbled backwards, his hands clasped to his skull. "Jeez. You're a bitch, you know that?"  
"And you're a jerk!" I snapped back, too tired to play nice after that one. He turned to go, and I figured that was the last I'd see of him.  
  
The next morning it was a turnip.  
"Hey, Farm Boy, get it through your head. I don't need charity," I growled at him.  
"Is there ANYTHING you do want?" he asked, sounding exasperated.  
"Yeah. If you want to get me something I'll use, get me a bottle of Heaven's Gate," I tossed at him over my shoulder and started working.  
I expected him to get lost after that, but he followed me and stood while I worked. "What's Heaven's Gate?" he asked.  
I gave him a Look. "Heaven's Gate is probably the only thing that could save this dump now." He was looking blank. "It's a famous wine my grandmother used to make!"  
"How would that save the vineyard?" Farm Boy asked.  
"If I had some of that wine, I could pray to the grape spirit to revive the Kifu fairies," I muttered back sarcastically.  
"Grape spirit?"  
"It's just an old story." I sighed and perched on the fence next to him--I wasn't gonna get anything done until I explained. "Grandma used to say that if anything ever happened, you should take a bottle of that wine to the Goddess and pray for the grape spirit to return. The spirit was supposed to bring the Kifu fairies back to kiss the vines and bless them, and they would grow again. I only wish it were true."  
Farm Boy was looking thoughtful, which I was starting to figure out was a dangerous thing. "Where do you get Heaven's Gate from?"  
I laughed. "Nowhere. There isn't a single bottle left in the world. That wine died with my grandmother."  
"You give up too easily." He hopped off the fence. "Well, I've got chickens to feed. See ya later."  
"Bye, jerk!" I yelled after him, but he was already gone. 


	6. Veryberries and Grand Designs

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 5: Veryberries and Grand Designs  
  
**********  
  
It was a warmish Spring night, and I was feeling good. Farm Boy hadn't come in, the flow of people was good but not too heavy, and all in all it was the perfect night for drinking. (Although there is very rarely a bad night to drink around here.)  
The last person I was expecting to see was Ann, but there she was, sliding through the doors with Gray behind her. "I'm just gonna talk to Karen," she told him. "Have a seat." He sat, and automatically I brought his drink around. I always keep the first round of the regulars' drinks ready under the bar, waiting for them to come in. Gray's was beer with a twist of apple.  
"What's up, Ann?" I asked, coming over. "You finally decide to take me up on that offer of hooking you up with my cute cousin?"  
My so-called "cute" cousin looked over at me and made a face. He was still a little peeved at me for insisting that he leave Cain outside.  
Ann shook her head. "I got an idea."  
This made me nervous. I hate it when Ann gets ideas. It's usually a bad sign. "Yeah?" I prompted her.  
She gestured over her glass of milk (tall, frosty, sometimes a hint of strawberry) at Harris, who was at his regular table in the corner. "Look at Harris."  
I looked. He appeared to be arm wrestling Kai. I wasn't sure who was winning, although I probably wouldn't have bet on Kai. "What about him?" I asked.  
"Doesn't that look like the face of a guy who is lovelorn?" she asked.  
I blinked. "It looks like the face of a guy who's about to make Kai pay for the next round to me."  
"Look harder!" she demanded. "Can't you just see him pining for Maria?!"  
"Maria?" I was confused. "Harris and Maria?"  
"Who did you think it was?"  
I thought about that one and replied, "Not sure. I knew it was someone, because he comes in here staring at his drink" (a shot of hard whiskey. He liked to keep the glasses at the table so he could see how drunk he was getting, too) "and sighing until you're ready to throw yourself out the window."  
"Right. So why doesn't he get involved with Maria?" she asked.  
I shrugged. "'Cause he doesn't want a relationship right now, or she likes someone else, or--"  
"NO!" Ann bellowed. "Because he's too shy, and she's too shy, and they're never gonna get together that way!"  
Everyone in the bar was staring at her. Kai took advantage of the lapse and pinned Harris' hand to the table.  
"Go back to drinking!" Ann called cheerfully to the bar, and everyone obliged.  
"So what'd you come in to tell me this for?" I wanted to know. "You could've gotten milk at home and saved yourself the money and the trip."  
"Because we have to do something about it! It's our duty as their friends to see that they get together!"  
I wasn't sure about this one. I figured if they weren't together, there must be a pretty good reason why, but she did kind of have a point. We were friends--not really close friends, but good enough to give each other presents at holidays and birthdays and talk a little when we met on the street--and if Ann was meddling in someone else's life, she couldn't rearrange mine. I've never really forgiven her for the time she set me up with Rick.  
"So give me the bottom line," I told her. "What are you going to con me into doing about it?"  
"It's simple. We're just going to come up with a Grand Design for bringing Maria out of her shell!" Ann explained, in a tone of voice suggesting that it would be easier to explain nuclear physics to a barnacle than to try to get me to grasp a simple concept.  
Ehh, I figured, how bad can it possibly be? In a couple weeks she'll be on to something else.  
"Okay," I said.  
  
I put in another late night at the bar, working straight through until midnight. Some nights I'd even been keeping it open until one, just to be doing something. But that night Duke pushed me out at midnight, saying he'd close up. I stepped out into the warm air gratefully, and I was halfway out of the village when I heard a door slam and footsteps. I started walking a little faster. Then the footsteps sped up, and I knew--just knew--I was being followed. You know that creepy feeling you get when someone's watching you or coming up behind you? I had that, big time. I broke into a run, but then a voice called out, "Karen, wait up!" and I stopped, deflated. Damn! Farm Boy!  
He caught up, a little out of breath. "Do you work out or what?" he huffed.  
"Don't need to." I started walking again, a little slower. "I'm on my feet pretty much all day. Working at the vineyard, I get pretty strong. And did you stop me at twelve-fifteen in the morning just to ask me about my exercise habits?"  
Farm Boy shook his head. "No. I picked this today and I thought I'd give it to you. It's one of the last of the season." He handed me a Veryberry.  
I turned a little so I wouldn't have to look at him. "Why are you doing this anyway? It doesn't matter. You'll be gone soon anyway."  
"Nope," he said cheerfully. "You're stuck with me for a while. I've gotta stay here."  
"Why?" I asked. "If I could leave, I'd be out of here on the first ferry."  
He took a potato out of his pocket and munched it. "I have to prove to my dad that I can run the farm. He wants me to go work with him at his job, do nine to five in a cubicle. And I just can't do that. When Grandpa died, he told me I had one chance: if I could prove to him that I was a man, that I could run Grandpa's ranch, he'd let me stay."  
We walked in silence for a while, and he finished the potato. "I have two years. When Dad comes back, I have to have made it. I can't sit behind a desk my whole life!"  
He was really getting worked up. I said, "I know what you mean. Sometimes you just feel like the work is smothering you."  
In the darkness I saw the edge of his mouth quirk up. "How would you know?"  
I shrugged. "My father...I used to think he cared about the vineyard, but he doesn't. He can't work. He can't think. He stands out there by the door every day and glares at me. And behind his back, the vineyard is dying."  
The vineyard was coming into view now, at the base of Moon Mountain. "My father is annoying and my mother cries...is it such a bad thing to leave here?"  
He didn't say anything. As we neared the vineyard, I asked, "What's your name?"  
"Jack," he told me.  
"...I...I'm Karen," I said.  
We were at the gate now. "I guess I'll see you later, then," he said.  
I raised an eyebrow at him. "You hang around too much."  
He just grinned. "All right, I don't think you're getting it. Here, let's try it one word at a time. Say it with me. Seeeeee...you're not saying it...yooouuuu...laaa- -"  
"Okay, okay!" I was laughing now. "See you!" 


	7. Fire on the Beach

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 6: Fire on the Beach  
  
**********  
  
Ugh, Summer. Ann loves it--of course, her birthday's in summer, but it's a really obnoxious season when you think about it. In Fall, there's the grape harvest, and in Spring we have the planting, but in Summer I have to slog through the same chores every day, and it's even worse because of the heat. I like Winter--give me a season where almost nothing has to get done and you have a lot of excuses to drink any day over running back and forth in ninety-degree weather. And we're always worried about storms, of course. You know what it's like to have a typhoon lift off with half your take? Trust me, you don't want to. We almost starved that year.  
The beach is THE place to be in the summer, which means no solitude for me on my days off. We all go through the motions of work, but you can see it on Popuri's face when she's dragging around with a watering can, on Elli's when her stove just makes the room even hotter until she can barely stand. Only Ann and the carpenters seem to be unaffected--they're all borderline fanatic about their work, so they don't even notice the heat.  
The first ten days of summer were a little crazy. The library's closed at the beginnings of summer and winter, and Maria was spending a lot of time in the mountains, looking for bugs. Ann decided that we had to make Harris spend time in the mountains, and there was really only one way to do it: send mail to the carpenters. Without the benefit of scanners or copy machines, I had to copy by hand about a hundred letters saying "ignore this letter. This letter means nothing" to the carpenters. This definitely got Harris and Maria in the same place, but Harris was too busy to say anything except a tentative "hi" when he dashed past. It was definitely time for another approach.  
I was still putting in long hours at the bar and even longer hours at the vineyard. I was constantly fretting about the grapevines--even on my days off I'd check back to make sure everything was okay. None of it was helping. The grapevines were barely rooted at all, and the grapes were small and grayish.  
I can't be sure, but I think I started drinking more. On a hot night, the first drink makes you even hotter and the second drink makes you irritable, but by the third drink, you start to cool off.  
Ann always makes that face when I say that. I never really understood why it bothers her so much. When I'm in a bad mood, drinking makes it all go away. Why shouldn't I like something that makes me feel good? And it's not like I couldn't stop drinking any time I wanted to...  
  
*****  
  
The first of summer is firework day. Almost everyone goes to the square, but I really hate crowds, so I went to the beach instead. I don't really like being all alone, either, but it's better than being surrounded by a total mob and not getting to see any fireworks.  
This year I'd brought my own fireworks, too. There were some Roman candles, lots of flashy things, a box of sparklers, and a couple really loud ones just for good measure. I was getting the stuff laid out when a voice asked, "Need some help?"  
I looked up to see Jack, his baseball cap still planted firmly on his head and a big grin on his face. "Good evening," I said. "You came to watch the fireworks, right?"  
"Yep," he replied. "I heard this was the best place to see them, so here I am."  
Something strange flickered across my mind, and without thinking, I said it. "I'm glad."  
He shot a sideways glance at me, and I said quickly, "I don't like crowds, but I didn't want to watch alone."  
"Yeah, I know what you mean," agreed Jack, nodding. "Are you normally stuck here alone?"  
I shook my head. "I haven't watched the fireworks for a long time. I was sulky and didn't go out."  
As I spoke, the first burst of color lit up the sky. The fireworks glimmered all around us, shining like jewels in every shade in the rainbow. The ocean spread out beneath them to the horizon, like an endless mirror.  
"Look, the fireworks are being reflected in the water. How beautiful," I whispered.  
"Yeah..." he breathed. "It's really incredible."  
We watched in silence for the next half hour. Finally the last glowing streak faded from the sky. "Ahh, it's over," I said, disappointed.  
Jack looked at his watch. "It seemed so much shorter than it really was. I feel like we just got here, but I hate to go home."  
"Say, I have some fireworks." I pressed a sparkler into his hand. "Here."  
He helped me line the larger ones up and we lit them, one by one. They exploded into the stars in brilliant showers of light.  
"Ahh..." I sighed. "I feel like a kid again."  
  
Summer is basically an endless string of long, hot days littered with boring festivals. Reference: the Vegetable Festival. I ask you, does anyone really care? Most of us brought whatever we had in our fridges, most of which came from the farm anyway. The only people that seriously grow vegetables are the Potion Shop guy, Lillia, and Jack. The rest of us have maybe a patch or two, but still...it's boring. And the gourmet judge! Ugh. Don't get me wrong; I know that some people are overweight because of health problems and there's not much they can do about it. But that guy eats all the time. I've even caught him trying to steal our grapes before, and Ann claims she found him trying to stuff a live chicken under his overcoat.  
But I show up at the Vegetable Festival because it's free food, and I love anything I can eat raw. Celery, asparagus...ooh, especially tomatoes. We had some growing in a patch out back, but they had another day or two to grow before they were done, so I sighed and got the last of the turnips out of the fridge. It was a good excuse to get rid of it anyway. I had no idea how long it'd been sitting in there, possibly since last Spring.  
Jack won with a massive cabbage, which he was about to give to Maria when the gourmet judge swooped down. I gave up and slunk down to the beach for the rest of the day. Might as well work on my tan.  
  
I always show up at the Firefly Festival, though, to pay my respects to Grandma.  
It was a beautifully clear night, and I got there early to watch the sunset. Popuri, Lillia, and Rick were already there when I arrived.  
"Hi, Karen," Popuri and Lillia called, cheerfully and in unison. Rick was busy studying the glowing silver crystals he was dropping into the flowers.  
"We're just putting the firefly lights into the flowers," Lillia explained. "Can you help?"  
I nodded and came over to look. The flowers were a pale, almost translucent pink, and the petals were as soft as silk. Rick showed me the crystals he had chipped off. "Those are Moonlight stones," he told me. "See how it's glowing? It does that because..."  
I found out a lot more than I ever wanted to know about geology, but we got the job done pretty fast. The mayor arrived a few minutes later, and he and his wife set everything up so they could hand the lights to everyone as they came in.  
As the crowd started to arrive, I went off by myself and sat on the edge of the pier. It isn't that I don't like it when everyone's happy. But as I said, I don't really like crowds, and I wanted to be alone to think about my grandmother. I didn't want to be here with everyone laughing like it was a picnic.  
I fingered the tiny vial of seashells in my pocket. "Grandma," I whispered into the ocean breeze, "please, help me. Tell me what to do."  
I could hear Elli behind me, sniffling. She always gets teary-eyed at the Firefly Festival. I don't know why--I've known her all my life and I still don't know what happened to her parents--but she does tend to cry at the least provocation, including cute kittens and small children, so I wasn't too worried. Rick was giving his botany lecture to anyone who would stand still long enough.  
"You're thinking about her, aren't you, Miss Karen," a voice said behind me. I jumped about a foot and nearly fell off the pier.  
"Ahh, Kai! Don't sneak up on me like that!" I snapped, whirling around.  
"S-sorry, Miss Karen."  
I ran a hand through my hair. "Forget it. Yes, I'm thinking about her." I looked out at the ocean. "I wish she were here."  
"I know," he said. "I wish she could tell us what to do."  
"Look, don't worry about it. I'll figure something out." I looked at him. "Wasting your time getting upset over it is useless. Go have fun." The Firefly Festival is not a festival where you have fun, but I was getting edgy. I wanted to be alone.  
He took the hint and wandered off slowly back toward the beach. I got about ten seconds to myself before another voice said, "Want some company?"  
"Not really," I said honestly.  
Jack backed off. "Okay, then, I'll talk to you later."  
"No. You're here now; you might as well stay." He came back and sat down next to me.  
"What are you thinking?" he asked after a while.  
"They may be watching us from somewhere..." I said.  
"Who?"  
"I mean my grandma...or your grandpa."  
"Do you really believe they're here?" he asked.  
"Personally, if I got off this island, I wouldn't bother coming back, but maybe they're sentimental," I replied.  
"Take it from me, the city's not that special," he said. "A lot of smog, a lot of people rushing everywhere. Life moves too fast to mean anything there. Even in a crowd you're always alone." I looked at him. He rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "Sorry. Didn't mean to get too melodramatic there."  
"It's okay," I said. "It's a melodramatic night, I guess."  
He was looking out over the water. "I just...I just wish I could see them one more time."  
"Your grandfather?"  
"My mother, too," he said quietly.  
"Your mother--"  
He cut me off. "--died of cancer five years ago."  
I felt really bad suddenly. Pity doesn't make me like a person any more, but it does make me feel sorry for them. "I didn't know that." Pause. "I'm sorry. It must've been rough."  
"Yeah, well...it's been a while." He was about to continue when the Mayor called, "All right! Let's send our firefly lights out to sea!"  
I swung my legs up to kneel on the dock and set the flower carefully onto the surface of the glassy sea. It drifted out.  
Gradually the light faded from the beach, leaving us in darkness. The stars overhead seemed to have vanished, as we all watched those fragile shining flowers glowing-golden pink in the night, slowly vanishing.  
I don't know how long we stood there, watching them, but when we looked back, everyone was gone.  
"Well..." I said, "let's go home. We can go together."  
"Yeah. It is kinda dark without those lights," he said.  
"I don't mean I'm scared at night!" I snapped.  
"I know, I know," he laughed.  
He walked me home, we said goodnight, and then I went indoors and went to sleep. 


	8. Drowning Your Sorrows

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 7: Drowning Your Sorrows  
  
**********  
  
"Daddy! I'll never get in trouble again! Please open!" A girl crying. She was banging on the door now, sobbing, "please! Daddy, please let me out! Don't leave me in here anymore!" She knew he had to hear her. He wouldn't let her out. She had been a bad girl.  
The door opened. "Sniff, sniff. Oh, who are you?" He smiled. "Where'd you come from?" The corner of the wall... "Wow, there is a hole here..." They were out into the night now, the darkness closing in all scary, the distance to home seeming like forever. "My daddy is angry, so I can't go home..." His hand in hers, warm. They went home together.  
And then...then?  
I woke up in a cold sweat, my pillow wet with tears. I felt like I'd been running for hours. I grasped the edges of the dream...feeling locked in again for an instant...but it was gone. And I couldn't remember why I had felt at peace at the very last moment.  
I turned over and went back to sleep.  
  
I was working in the wine cellar when Jack came in.  
"Ummm...hi," he said. "Kai told me you were here. I just came to bring you something to eat. I know working makes me really hungry, so..." He trailed off and handed me the big orange fruit. I actually was pretty hungry, thinking about it, so I scarfed it down in one bite.  
"Thanks," I said. "...umm...can I help you?"  
He was looking around. "What is this place?"  
"This is where we make wine. A lot of the machinery is up here." I gave him an outline of some of the machines and what they did. "Shall I show you the downstairs too?" I asked.  
"Yeah. This is interesting." I led him down the stairs into the cellar.  
"See, this is mostly storage down here. See all the wine barrels? We made this last year. And this rack is bottles of all the things we ship to the bar. Dad keeps all the really rare wines in the house," I explained.  
"But you said he doesn't have any of the Door to Heaven left, right?" he asked.  
"Door to Heaven?" I looked up sharply. "That was the real name of Grandma's wine. But we all just call it Heaven's Gate. How did you...?"  
He smiled the smile of the truly enigmatic. "I just know."  
I shrugged and gave up trying to figure it out. "Shall we go back?"  
We went back upstairs and I started to open the door. It wouldn't budge. I tried again. Still nothing. Finally I backed up and did a running kick at the hinges. It still didn't move. And then I saw that it was locked.  
"Huh? It won't open! How'd we get locked in?" I wondered.  
"What's wrong?" Jack crossed the room fast and tried opening the door a few times. "Oh, shoot, it really is locked." He looked at me. "Do you have a key?"  
"If I had a key, do you think we'd still be in here?" I snapped. I was starting to get nervous. I hated being locked in the wine cellar. I hated it hated it hated it. Just like when I was a little kid...  
"Okay, calm down. Do you have a hairpin or something we could pick it with?" Jack asked.  
"No. Anyway, it wouldn't work on a lock like that." I started to pace. I could feel my stomach rumbling. The fruit hadn't been enough. "I'm hungry..." I sank to the ground, moaning. I was going to starve to death and die in here, alone except for a city slicker farm boy, and they'd find my skeleton in the fall...  
He sat down next to me. "Karen. Karen, stop it. You're shaking. It's all right."  
"You're a cool cucumber." I glared at him. "How can you be so calm?"  
He just shook his head. "Something like this happened to me a long time ago."  
And suddenly something came back to me, as if in a dream. Locked in...someone, a boy, saved me...  
"You got locked in a wine cellar?" I asked sarcastically.  
"Actually..." He started to look around at the walls. "There was a hole somewhere...can you help me look?"  
I got up. "What are you trying to find?"  
"There should be a hole somewhere in the walls. We might be able to get through."  
We searched for an hour. I was downstairs when I finally heard him yell "found it!" It was in a corner of the machine room. He helped me through, then got out himself.  
It was dark when we finally stepped out. I turned to look at him. "How did you know about this place? Even I forgot about it..."  
He smiled again. "I told you. Something like this happened to me a long time ago."  
His eyes met mine and held them, willing me to ask. "Was that you...who let me out of here a long time ago?"  
Slowly, he nodded. "Yes."  
There was a flash. A pair of warm brown eyes, holding mine. A hand in mine, giving me strength. He took me home when I was scared. I remembered him.  
"Oh, it was..." I breathed.  
I'm not sure how long we stood like that, just looking at each other, before I finally said, "Well, thank you." Then, another thought. "Did you...remember me? From the beginning?"  
He nodded again. "I knew from the first time I saw you."  
I wanted to say something, but I didn't know how or even what I wanted to say. So I told him, "see you later!" and floated inside.  
  
Working late at the bar. On a night when you're dead drunk, the shadows seem to close in around you, leaving you in a wine-drenched world of dark red. Everything moves slowly, as if in a dream. You can't think. You can't feel. You're detached from everything, floating above it all watching your body curl on the floor, hovering over a pathetic world.  
Miss Karen, why are you doing this to yourself? someone asks.  
From somewhere else, I hear myself slurring. Call...call me Kkkaren.  
It's never been this bad before.  
Shhtopp yelling! I'm shouting. Everyone yells! He yellszat me too!  
You had a fight with your father?  
Alllwhays fightin'. HATE IT! I wanna get outta here.  
Out of here?  
The chhity! Anywhere away from this godforshhaken DUMP.  
Sigh. I know what you mean sometimes. I'm going to take you home, Karen.  
I c'n walk.  
No, you can't.  
Okay.  
A pair of strong brown arms. I go home.  
  
I didn't wake up the next morning. I slept all day and woke up after sunset to find Kai and my mother hovering over my bed.  
"What...what happened?" I put a hand to my forehead. The pain felt suspiciously like a hangover.  
"You were drunk," Kai said quietly. "I took you home."  
"Are you alright?" Mom asked. "Can I get you anything?"  
"Dad's pissed off, isn't he?" I asked.  
She looked away, tears in her eyes. Kai said, "The Master is at the bar."  
"Yeah, yeah, I know, he said don't call him unless I die," I snapped and rolled over. "I'm going back to sleep."  
"Mistress, you can go now," Kai told my mother. "It's all right. I'll stay with her."  
"You don't have to stay with me!" I was almost yelling. "I'm fine, Kai. Fine!"  
Mom smoothed my hair off my face and left the room wordlessly. I heard the door to her room close, and then the soft cries began.  
"I hate them," I muttered.  
"You don't hate them, Miss Karen," Kai said.  
"No, sometimes I really do hate them. My father is always yelling. You know he used to lock me in the wine cellar when he said I was being bad? Sometimes he would leave me there in the dark all day. All alone."  
"No, I didn't know that."  
I rolled over onto my back to face him. "It's true. And Mom's always sobbing. Dad yells at me for something and she runs off and cries and then he yells at me some more for making her cry."  
He reached over and lifted my head, carefully, then held a glass of water to my lips. I drank it, all of it. The cool water felt good running down my throat. When I'd finished, he fluffed the pillow and ran a cool cloth across my forehead. I realized my face was burning. "Why do you drink, Miss Karen?"  
I smiled weakly. "We've known each other for five years. You've seen me pass out drunk. You might as well call me Karen."  
He looked a little flustered, but said, "Well...Karen, then. Why do you drink?"  
"I dunno..." I leaned back against the pillows. "I just...I just get so angry at them. And I want to run away and I want to kill them and I want to forget...so I just drink. When I drink, everything goes away and I don't have to worry about it anymore." I looked at him. "But it doesn't ever go away..."  
"It always comes back the next morning," he said.  
"It shouldn't." My fists were clenching involuntarily. "Do you ever want to go to the city too, Kai? Just get out of here?"  
His eyes were distant. "I did."  
I looked at him. "I've been running all my life," he said. "Running away from the orange grove. I wanted to go to the city. But I couldn't make it." He reached down to smooth the locks of blonde hair back behind my ears, looking straight into my eyes. "You run long enough, and your past catches up with you."  
"Just running away from responsibility..." I murmured, then asked, "Do you still think about it? Making it to the city?"  
He looked away again, staring out the open window into the night. "Yes," he said finally.  
"You have some money saved, right?" I asked. "We could leave tonight. Never have to see this place again!" I was being reckless, and I knew it, but I didn't care.  
"I wish..." he started, but then stopped himself. "No. It doesn't matter what I wish. I have to stay here for now. I owe a debt to your family. One more harvest, and then I'll be free to leave."  
He stood up. "You should sleep now. Try to feel better."  
Impulsively, I reached out and took his hand. "Kai...thank you. Sometimes you're the only thing that keeps me from going insane here."  
Kai smiled, his black eyes shining. "No...Karen. I should thank you." And then he turned the light out and was gone. I watched him go, my head still churning with everything we'd said, then rolled over, pulled the covers up to my chin, and went back to sleep. 


	9. Other Fish in the Sea

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 8: Other Fish in the Sea  
  
**********  
  
I felt almost totally better the next morning, so I came down for breakfast. Mom, her eyes still a little red around the edges, tried to smile and made me pancakes in the shape of Mickey Mouse to make me feel better. Kai was finishing his eggs, and the three of us split a tray of bacon. Mom didn't eat much.  
"Where's Dad?" I asked.  
Mom answered, "He's out in the grapevines, doing your chores."  
"What?!" I yelped, then put my head in my hands and moaned, "Oh, damn...I'm gonna get yelled at, aren't I?"  
"Am I not," Mom corrected. "And no, you're not. He's doing it so you can go to the Swimming Festival."  
I smacked my forehead. "Is that today?!"  
"Yep." Kai grinned, flexing. "And the champion swimmer's going to win it again this year."  
I punched his arm. "Ugh. You are so arrogant."  
He laughed. "I'm kidding. I haven't been working out, but you know my old home was by the ocean. I'm a pretty good swimmer."  
He was. He was definitely better than Jeff, and Rick was so bad he didn't even bother entering, just stood on the shore holding the prize.  
"Hey," he said, breaking me out of my thoughts. "You're entering the competition this year too, right?"  
It took me a moment to register that one. Jack and Ann had made the mistake of talking about the swimming festival and Jack had asked if there was a race for the girls. Ann said no, we'd never had one, and when the city slicker started going on about injustice and sexism and lawyers, they'd stormed down to the Mayor's house and demanded that the women be allowed to have a race.  
Well, it was early in the morning, and the Mayor really didn't want to deal with a hyperactive ranch girl and a farmer, especially since Jack still had his sickle out, so he said okay. So of course I said I'd enter.  
"Oh, yeah, definitely!" I told Kai.  
He pushed back his plate and asked, "Are you ready to go?"  
"Sure." Mom took the dishes, despite our protests ("I can do them. You go have fun," she insisted), and the two of us changed and set out for the beach.  
  
It was pretty crowded already when we got there. Kai went down with the other guys by the edge of the water, and I went off to sit in the Females and Losers section for the first race. Not that it bothered me. The crowd of guys down the beach was emitting clouds of Machoness strong enough to fell a cow twenty feet away.  
Our crowd was a little less than enthusiastic. Most of us were just cheering randomly. Maria sat studying a crab and tracing pictures in the sand with her index figure, huddled with her knees close to her chest as if she wasn't used to wearing a swimsuit. Popuri cheered for everybody. Ann wasn't entirely sure whether she wanted to cheer for Gray or Cliff, so she was yelling, "Yay, yay, yay!" at random intervals. And I was totally torn between Kai, my best guy friend; Cliff, my cousin; and Jack, a new sort-of friend--not even mentioning my best friend's brother--so I was stuck yelling all their names and feeling like an idiot.  
The only one who knew what she was doing was Elli, who was jumping up and down, shouting, "Goooo Jeff!" and then occasionally, "Yay Jack!" and blushing.  
The rest of the audience was similarly subdued. Lillia was waving flags around, but everyone else was just sitting, watching, or ignoring the guys and talking to each other. Ellen, sitting in her rocking chair and knitting, made a sound suspiciously like a snore. In fact, the only people who were really loving this were May, Stu, and Kent, who were hopping up and down like maniacs.  
This lack of energy was not present in the guys. They were flexing, stretching, running in place, bragging to each other, and just generally doing Manly things. You got the feeling that if you left them down there, they'd be drinking beer, eating cheese dip right out of the tub, and burping while they watched the playoffs. The fact that we don't get cable out there would not phaze a true guy.  
We watched as the mayor explained the rules and Rick held up the Ugly Pig Statue--I think it's actually called the Invincible Katori, but all of us have at least two of them hidden in our closets somewhere. They're like fruitcakes. Everyone gives them and you can't get rid of them. The guys lined up, looking intensely at the buoy, the Drive to Win in their eyes.  
"Get ready...set...GO!" the mayor hollered.  
They were off like a shot. Kai, streamlining like a pro, instantly pulled into the lead. When the other guys were busy struggling in his wake, he let up a little, pacing himself. They were at the halfway point when Jack started coming on strong. Soon they were neck-and-neck, each struggling to pull ahead of the other. The crowd, for once, was going wild.  
They reached the finish line together, but Kai got to his feet and slammed his hand on the buoy first. "WINNER!" shouted the mayor, and we all cheered.  
Most of them doggy-paddled back to the beach, where they stood in a cluster, whining (Jeff: "I should get a head start! I'm so much older than all of you!") and trying to reinflate their egos. Kano got in and took a picture, and we all swarmed down to comfort the losers and congratulate Kai.  
"You were awesome!" I told him, throwing my arms around him. "Are you sure you weren't working out behind my back?"  
He laughed. "Maybe not enough. I can't believe Jack almost beat me. I had no idea he was so good."  
"Can't beat the master, I guess," Jack grinned. "Just wait until next year, Kai."  
"I guess I should watch my back," Kai told him. "Seriously, nice job out there."  
"You too." Jack looked at me. "You ready for your race?"  
I nodded. "Of course. I bet I can beat both your times."  
"The scary thing is, I bet she can," Jack said to Kai. "Well, good luck out there. I'll be rooting for you."  
"Me too!" Kai put in. "Good luck."  
"Thanks. I'll do my best," I told them, and went down to the shore to stretch.  
Ann was doing jumping jacks when I got there. "Hi--Karen--" she huffed. "Ready--to lose?"  
"Yeah." I did a couple high kicks, stretching out my legs. Popuri seemed to be jumping up and down, whatever kind of warm-up that was. Elli was still standing with Jeff, whining about how she was at a disadvantage because she was heavier than we were, or something like that. Maria merely stood, waiting.  
I figured I could beat Elli. I knew she didn't exercise at all, so she was not only a little bigger, but had less strength than I did from all those hours in the vineyard. It wasn't bad--the few extra pounds gave her a softer, gentler appearance, which she fit into well, and she did have a nice figure. But it wasn't good for a swimmer. Popuri was smaller, but she didn't work out either. And Maria was slender and average height, and I'd seen her at Moon Mountain climbing trees a lot, so I figured she was in pretty good shape, by my only real competition was Ann. Ann is an inch or so shorter than I am, but she's in excellent shape and she's very strong.  
We lined up at the edge of the water, and I trained my ears on the mayor's voice.  
"Ready...set...GO!"  
I shoved off hard on the sand with my feet and plunged into the water. From the splashes next to me I could tell Popuri was flailing with her arms. I was taking fewer strokes, trying to use less energy to push more water. Elli had the same idea, but she and Popuri got left behind after a while.  
Don't think about the others. Just swim. But it was impossible. Maria was crawling along beside me, doing pretty well, but a little past the halfway point she gasped and stopped for an instant. It was enough, and Ann and I surged ahead.  
It was time to go all out. I put my face down in the water and started pushing myself as hard as I could, concentrating on making the strokes strong and clean. I didn't stop until I felt my hand drive into the buoy, and then I shot up, not even bothering to wipe the water out of my eyes, holding the buoy above my head so everyone could see it.  
"WINNER!" the mayor shouted, and he was halfway through the word when Ann shot up behind me. "Ahh!" she spluttered. "Oh, well. It was fun anyway." Nothing gets Ann down for very long, even losing.  
Maria was in a second after her, and then Elli and Popuri. We swam back to shore, Ann and I practicing our butterfly stroke.  
"Congratulations, Karen!" shouted the mayor. Instantly, I was mobbed. There was Rick, telling me he'd ship me the prize later, Kai throwing his arms around me and then backing off shyly, Jack grinning, "I knew you could do it," and Ann jumping up and down and hugging me and Cliff pulling my hair and the works.  
  
Kai and I walked home together, the victors.  
"See?" he said suddenly. "You have such a great life. Why do you want to throw all this away?"  
I looked at him. "What do you mean, I have a great life? I've got a father who screams, a mother who cries, and a dead vineyard!"  
"You also have a lot of people who care about you."  
I stopped dead. "What?"  
"All those people. Cliff, Ann...they all like you."  
"Lemme tell you something, Kai," I said. "They're the only ones. Everyone else in this dump thinks I'm a bitch."  
"You're not," he said quietly.  
I whirled on him. "Yes. Yes, I am! I want to be a bitch!"  
He was clearly frightened, but he kept pressing. "Why?"  
"Because if I'm a bitch, I won't care about anybody, and then I won't get hurt." I turned away and kept walking, faster.  
"See, there was this guy once, way before you came. I was a little kid, and I fell in love with him." I clenched my fists. "But he left me.  
"I wanted to follow him. I wanted to leave here!" I heard my voice break. "But I couldn't."  
"What happened to him?" Kai asked.  
"I don't know." My footsteps pounded into the ground, his beside them sounding lighter. "I don't remember his name or even his face, but my whole life I've wanted to find him. And that's one of the reasons I want to leave."  
We walked the rest of the way in silence.  
As we walked under the gate to the vineyard, Kai said, "Mis--Karen. I know I shouldn't say this, but..." He squared his shoulders. "I don't think you're a bitch, and I don't think you should let anyone else tell you that you are. None of this is your fault. And...I really think you're a nice person." I was just standing there, stunned. "I'll see you tomorrow." He went inside.  
I stood in the center of the vineyard, the tiny colorless grapes withering in the dying light, and felt the tears running down my face. 


	10. Analyze This

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 9: Analyze This  
  
**********  
  
When I went outside the next morning, Jack was leaning against my door with flowers. "For the swimming champion," he said, handing them to me. They were yellow. Wildflowers. Obviously picked fresh that morning. He'd gone out before dawn to get flowers for me?  
"Thanks," I said.  
"Kai told me you were in kind of a slump lately," he said.  
I avoided his eyes. "I've got a lot of work to do, so..."  
"Nope. Come on, you're taking the day off and going to the beach again. Kai said he'd handle your chores."  
Kai waved to me from the grapevines. "Go ahead. Have a good time today. It's the perfect day for swimming."  
I grumbled, "All right. If you guys are so determined to get me out of here...I'll be right back." I walked inside and then went whirlwind. I ran upstairs, threw my swimsuit and a clean pair of shorts on and grabbed a towel. Went back downstairs, yelled "I'm gonna be out for a while, I'll see you later!" and was back out the door in less than a minute.  
"Okay," I said to Jack. "Let's go."  
  
I spread out the blanket while he opened the basket and started getting things out. It wasn't a bad day to be at the beach, actually. Stu, Kent, and May were playing by the cliff face, but it seemed like everyone else was busy. More people would come when it got hotter.  
I glanced over at the food he was unpacking and gaped. He had a whole meal. Sandwiches, a container of soup, watermelon, tomatoes, potato chips, and cookies. "You made all this?" I blurted out.  
He nodded. "Yep. I just started cooking when I got here and I figured out that I was okay at it. Besides, most of this stuff is pretty easy to make. All I had to do was slice the potatoes and fry them." He handed me a slice of watermelon. "Eat all you want. I've got a ton here."  
The watermelon was cold and sweet. "Here," he said. "You need sunblock?"  
I shook my head. "No one uses it here."  
He sighed. "That's what I said, too, but one of my friends made me bring it. He spends summers on his uncle's farm and he told me you burn fast when you're out in the sun all day."  
"Fine," I said, holding out my hand. He squeezed the bottle out into it, and I rubbed the white cream onto my skin.  
"Want me to get your back?" he asked.  
Oh, if you insist. "Fine," I repeated in the tone of a martyr, turning my back to him. His hands on my back were warm and gentle. I was getting close to purring. When he finished, he turned around so I could help him, and then we started eating. The food was absolutely delicious.  
We ate for a while, and then he said, "If you don't mind my asking...you doing okay?"  
"Why do you ask?" I said suspiciously.  
"Kai came to talk to me last night. He was pretty worried. He said that you'd been feeling a little down lately and wanted to know if I could help give you a day off." He rolled onto his side and took another sandwich from the basket, munching it thoughtfully. "So, you want to tell me what's been going on?"  
I shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't know what to do about the vineyard. It's dying, Jack. It's dying and there's nothing I can do."  
He looked at me unhappily. "I wish there was something I could say. I just don't know what to do."  
"And I've been so frustrated with my parents. Sometimes I can't stand them. No matter what I do, it's never good enough for my father."  
"You know what?" he said. "My father's like that too."  
"So what'd you do about it?" I asked.  
"I took off." He stopped and shook his head. "No, that wasn't really it. I found something I wanted to do and threw myself into it. You just have to find something you really care about and then do it, I think. People like our fathers--you have to earn their respect."  
"I know."  
"Is there anything else that's bugging you?"  
"I want to get out of here!" I cried suddenly, startling us both. "I want to get away from my parents, away from this vineyard. There's someone I'm looking for."  
"Who?" he asked.  
I blushed. "It's stupid. Just this guy I fell in love with when I was a little kid. I know he lives in the city. I want to go there and try to find him again." I ran a hand through my hair. "You probably think I'm a stupid little girl now..."  
"That's not stupid." I gave him the Look. "I'm serious!" he insisted. "Part of the reason I agreed to take over the farm was to find someone, too." He was looking at me intensely, and for an instant I felt as if his eyes were penetrating into my skull, seeing into me and through me and beyond me.  
"Who are you looking for?" I asked.  
"A girl I met here, when I was a little kid. I made her a promise that I want to keep." He was trying to tell me something, I thought suddenly, without knowing why. We sat there like that for a while, looking at each other, as I struggled to figure out what it was he wanted me to do. Finally he pulled away. "It's not important," he mumbled.  
We were silent for a while, and then I remembered what Kai had said the night before. 'I really think you're a nice person.' I wasn't sure whether I wanted to hear the answer or not, but I asked, "Jack? Do you think I'm a bitch?"  
It was the most inane question ever, but he took it seriously. "When I first met you, I did," he said. "Neither of us were really at our best that night."  
"You still think that?"  
"I started talking to people. Cliff's probably the best friend I have here, and he told me a lot about you. And Ann started telling me about how good you are at making her feel better when she's down, and going on that you're the best friend ever. I talked to Kai some too, and he--jeez, Karen, that guy thinks the world of you. He said you can be really sharp with him, but he doesn't think you mean to hurt people. And he said that there are times when you're really kind." We were both full; he put the rest of the food in the basket and kept talking. "So I started getting to know you a little better. And..." Here he trailed off. "Do you mind if I psychoanalyze you a little bit here?"  
"Go ahead," I told him. "We've gotta have something to do while we wait for our food to digest."  
"Okay. You seem like someone who's been hurt badly, and you're afraid of getting close to other people because you don't want to get hurt again."  
I really hate it when people tell me how my mind works. I hate it even more when they're actually right.  
I guess he realized he was getting too serious, because he laughed and stood up. "Race you to the water!" he yelled, and took off running.  
"Hey! You creep, wait for me!" I raced down the beach after him and into the water.  
  
We swam for hours. It was getting dark by the time we finally got out.  
"I don't want to leave, but we've both gotta get back to work tomorrow," Jack said.  
I agreed. I was feeling like there was some reason I didn't want to leave that didn't have anything to do with the beach, and a nagging little voice in the back of my mine was saying, 'It's not because of Jack, is it?' I tried to tell myself that there was no way, but as we started folding up the blanket, I gave up. All right. So I was attracted to Jack. No big deal, right? I'd get over it.  
He walked me back to the vineyard, and as we got to the door, he began, "Karen?"  
"Yeah?" I asked.  
"Don't drink so much. You got a lot of people worried the other day. Just...take care of yourself, okay?"  
His face was red, and it wasn't from the sunburn. I realized mine was too. "I promise," I said.  
Our faces were inches apart. We were just looking at each other. The night was warm and muggy and, except for the crickets, totally silent. Nothing moved.  
"All right," he said after a while, turning to go. "I'll see you later, then."  
"See you!" I called. 


	11. Discovery Channel Special

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 10: Discovery Channel Special  
  
**********  
  
My father was screaming, "You're lazy and ungrateful! You don't appreciate anything! I work so hard to put food on your table and you don't even--"  
"Shut up!" I screamed back. "I hate you! Why can't you just leave me alone?!" Before he could move, I was off like a shot and out the door. I could hear him bellow and start after me, and I knew I didn't have much time. Just as the door was thrown halfway off its hinges, I dove for the gap in between two rows of grapevines and lay flat on the ground, praying he wouldn't walk my way.  
He cursed for a while, roared "Where are you?!" a few times, then stalked off down the hill and toward the village. Headed for the bar, no doubt.  
"Are you all right?" Kai asked me, extending a hand to help me up. Why was he always helping me up?! I didn't need him. I jumped to my feet by myself without taking his hand and walked away without a word.  
"Son of a bitch," I muttered to myself, and then felt bad. That insult really hit Grandma more than my father. But I really, really needed to curse right then, so I repeated it a few times, kicking rocks on the ground as far as I could. One hit the side of the house, almost slamming into the window. Good. I wished it had shattered.  
"Miss Karen!" Kai called, panting after me. "Miss Karen, please make up with your father. Really..."  
I cut him off. "Besides my leaving, my father doesn't care about anything! He should be doing something to bring back the vineyard, right?" I kept walking, trying to outpace him.  
"Miss Karen..." he cried. He was still following me.  
I whirled to face him; he slammed to a stop only inches away from me. "Men should try their hardest at their work!" I hissed. It hit home and again I felt a pang of guilt. He really wasn't trying to be a slacker. Work ethic is either born into people or it isn't, and if you don't have it, you probably never will.  
He was just standing there, gaping. I smiled to myself and strode off.  
They say an angry woman walks fast. And an angry woman who walks fast is statistically way more likely not to watch where she's going and fall into a hole.  
I went down hard on the ground, my ankle wrenched. Involuntarily I cried out.  
"Miss Karen!" Kai's eyes were wide and frightened. "I--I'll get help!" He turned and fled, running like a startled jackrabbit.  
"Wait!" I yelled after him. "Don't leave me here, you jerk!" But he was already gone.  
I was just lying there, my foot still in the ground, maybe two thirds conscious, and that idiot LEFT me there for fifteen minutes.  
Actually, he left me for longer than that, but that was how long it took for someone else to come.  
Of course it had to be Jack, bringing me the tomatoes. He'd been bringing them ever since I'd told him at the Vegetable Festival that I liked them. And he always brought them right before I left for work at the bar, for energy for the night's work.  
"Hey, anyone here?" he called. "Karen?" He shaded his eyes against the late afternoon sun and looked around.  
"Back here!" I yelled.  
He walked around the corner and then started to run. "Are you okay?" he asked.  
I grimaced and waved a hand at my ankle. "I think I sprained my ankle."  
"Can you walk? Is it broken?" He knelt down to look at it.  
"I can move it, but there's no way I can even get up, let alone walk," I replied.  
He bent over next to my back, arms outstretched. "Cam you roll towards me at all?"  
"What--" I began, but by that time I was in his arms and he was making his way toward the house.  
"Hey, wait!" I demanded. He didn't stop. "What are you doing?"  
"Carrying you back." He would've shrugged if he hadn't been carrying me.  
"Stop it. It's embarrassing," I snapped.  
"Tough," he replied cheerfully, shifting his arms to spread my wait more evenly across them.  
I kinda had to agree with him. I couldn't walk back in my condition, and crawling across the yard didn't really appeal to me. Besides, he was warm and smelled good, like soil and summer fruit, and being in his arms wasn't all that bad. As soon as I had that thought, I shoved it out of my head, but it wouldn't go. Hmm.  
I stopped struggling and relaxed in his arms. I was surprised that he was strong enough to carry me. I'm not that heavy--I'm slender even though I'm tall and have some muscle, which makes me heavier--but still, he must've been working out.  
He brought me up to the door, I turned the knob, and we walked in.  
Mom was sitting on the couch, stitching a hole in one of my vests. She always sews when she's getting over crying. She jumped up when she saw us come in and ran over. "Oh, what happened, Karen?" she asked.  
"It's okay, Mom," I reassured her. "I just fell down."  
"Where's your room?" Jack asked me. "Upstairs?"  
I protested, "You don't have to--"  
"It's all right!" he insisted as he carried me up the stairs. I was really tempted to make a crack about Scarlett O'Hara, but then I figured it'd be a bad idea. I got the door to my room, too, and he set me down carefully on my bed and pulled the covers up for me.  
Just then Kai burst in. "Karen--you--" He stopped when he saw Jack. "Hi, Jack," he said. "What are you doing here?"  
"I carried her home. She fell," Jack responded.  
"Oh..." Kai looked crestfallen. He had meant well, I knew. Carrying me had obviously never occurred to him. Maybe he wasn't sure he could lift me. "Here, let me get you some ice," he said to me, not moving.  
"I'd better go. I'll come by tomorrow to see how you're doing, all right, Karen?" Jack said, setting the tomatoes on my bedside table. They were getting riper every day.  
They both turned at the same time, and as their eyes grazed each other and locked, there was a sudden flash of something.  
When we were little, the pastor used to show us nature films on TV in school. When two males--rams, bulls, antelope, whatever--are fighting, especially over a mate, there's a challenging, territorial look in their eyes.  
Jack and Kai had it, and I didn't like it. 


	12. Rebirth

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 11: Rebirth  
  
**********  
  
It was the 7th of Fall, and as long as I live, I will remember that day. I'd been out at the beach all day, fuming, and I got back just before sunset.  
The vineyard was just like I'd left it that morning, except that the grapes, which had been almost invisible on the withered vines, were purple now, standing out in the dying light. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a silver flash, and I knew what it had to be.  
I started to run.  
"Jack!" I cried as soon as I burst onto the farm. He was dropping the last of the crops into the shipping bin.  
"Hey, Karen. You look excited," he said.  
I grabbed his arm. "Hey, hey, come on! Come to our vineyard! It's incredible!"  
"Wha--what?" He was blinking.  
"You'll understand when you get there! Come on!"  
He stumbled behind me through the crossroads and up the hill to the vineyard. The last glowing embers of the run were fading now, and in the darkness, the silver shimmers were visible. The grapes were bursting out now like the fireworks we'd shot, ripe and round and purple. The tiny silver fairies were diving in like tiny points of starlight, gently kissing the grapes.  
"See, isn't it amazing?!" I was jumping up and down like a little girl. "The fairies are kissing the grapes!"  
"The Kifu fairies!" he cried with sudden comprehension. "That means the vineyard...the vineyard..."  
"Yes, Jack." I ran to the grapevines and inhaled. "Smell that?" I asked. "The grapes have turned incredibly sweet!"  
"You can make Heaven's Gate again now, can't you? It's going to be like the old times."  
"I know." I looked at him suddenly. There was something in his eyes. Almost as if... "Jack? You...you did this for me? You brought back the Kifu fairies?"  
He shook his head. "No. You did this."  
"I always thought it was an old fairy tale..." I shook my head, unable to take it all in. "I didn't believe it. I think I finally understand why Grandma's wine was so good."  
Suddenly I wanted to dance more than anything. I felt my feet moving on their own and then I was dancing, whirling around in the starlight of the fairies. For the first time in my life, I was totally free, totally unafraid. I was there, alone, the grapes and the fairies and the two of us were the only things that existed. And for the first time, too, I felt beautiful.  
And then Jack was beside me, his arms around me, and he was spinning with me. Gone was the awkwardness we'd felt at the Goddess Festival. We were both drunk from the light of the fairies, and for once there was nothing between us. I wasn't thinking about the steps--somehow our feet were just finding the way, by some instinct. This was what dancing really was, I felt suddenly.  
In the violet-silver light of the grapevines, I felt a change, and then his hands were in my hair and we were kissing.  
Everyone knows what your first kiss with someone is like. Your heart is racing so hard that for a moment there, as the romance writers like to say, you think it's going to leap out of your chest. Your face is flushed, maybe you're breathing a little harder, but suddenly everything just feels right...  
We broke, touch fading gently. He was looking at me, a slight smile on his face, and I sensed a hint of the teasing, "I-know-your-heart's-racing-doubletime- because-of-me" look I'd gotten at the festival in Spring. But I could feel the warmth, too, and...damn. He was blushing.  
"What was that for?" I asked softly, letting the smile play across my lips.  
He adjusted his hat, plunged his hands into his pockets and shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure." He looked back at me. "We shouldn't be doing this..."  
And then he dipped me back and kissed me again, longer this time. I remember feeling that something was happening, something that I'd never felt before, and that I wanted it. I wanted to be in his arms.  
We stayed there among the grapevines all night, dancing. A few days later I found a bottle of Heaven's Gate on my doorstep.  
  
He left at dawn and I staggered inside, suddenly feeling drained and exhausted. We'd been out all night. My father griped at me and sent me up to bed, and Kai gave me a lecture about working too hard when he came in to bring up the tea. I was enveloped in a warm, Veryberry-tea-scented (they wouldn't let me have any wine) haze when I heard my mother say, "Oh, hi, Jack. Karen is sick in bed. Why don't you go pay her a visit? Good, come in. I'm sure she'll be happy."  
Damn!  
A few seconds later, he bounded up the stairs. "Hi, Karen," he said. "How are you feeling?"  
"I'm just tired. I guess dancing all night got to me." He set a bunch of wildflowers carefully on my bedside table. I looked at them and moaned, "Oh, this is so embarassing. Jack... you didn't have to come visit me. I mean...I haven't even washed my face."  
"You want me to go get you a towel or something?" he asked, with the typical male cluelessness.  
"No, I'm fine. No, don't go get it," I told him. He was looking around the room: the simple wooden furnishings, the blue beadspread, the flowers in the corner. "Kind of an empty room, isn't it?" I asked, just to break the silence. "I don't like setting things out all over the place."  
"Yeah, me too," he said. "My house is like that too. I don't even have a rug." He was jumping all over the place, looking at everything in the room.  
"Gosh, you're so restless. Calm down," I told him.  
He came back over and dug around in his rucksack. "Hey, I have something to show you." Eventually he pulled out a small music box.  
It opened, and I could see the tiny dancer. "Hmmm, a music box," I murmured. The music was familiar. "That's 'Dance Under the Moon,' isn't it?" It wasn't a question; we both knew it.  
Jack nodded. "Yeah. Do you reme--do you know that song?"  
"Of course." I closed my eyes. "Brings back memories. I remember that from long ago, deep down in my heart..."  
Wordlessly, he pressed it into my hands.  
"What?" I blurted. "For me? Are you sure?"  
"Sure. I thought it might cheer you up a little bit," he said.  
I turned it over in my hands, struggling for...what, I wasn't sure. There was a memory, something I was trying to grasp. The edges of something...a song. There were two voices singing. And a promise...  
"Why me?" I asked.  
He hesitated. "I...I told you. Because you're sick."  
"There was nothing else?"  
A small smile, looking almost a little sad--although it could have just been the way the rain was falling. "Just a promise I made to someone a long time ago."  
For an instant, there it was. The whole thing was crystal clear. The boy who had let me out of the cellar...that boy, Jack, the same person, the person I'd fallen in love with a summer long ago...a music box I had given to him...he buried it, promising...promising what?  
Promising he'd come back to me?  
It was gone again.  
I shook my head. "Thanks. I'll take good care of it." I set it carefully on the bedside table.  
He stood up. "Well, I'd better let you get some rest. Isn't harvest season coming up? You need all your energy."  
As he got to the stairs, I called after him, "Thanks. I feel a little better now."  
He smiled and went down. I opened the music box again and let the melody rock me to sleep. 


	13. Showing Up Emeril

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 12: Showing up Emeril  
  
**********  
  
The next day I felt better, so I went up into the mountains, and then over to Ann's place to get ready for the Harvest Festival the following day.  
Ann and I always get together, semi-desperately, the day before the Harvest Festival. This annual ritual is the rough equivalent of the blind leading the blind off a ski jump. This'd be pathetic enough, but we have to stand there and watch Gray two feet away cooking up a storm.  
This year was no exception. We met at her house--Mom was working at ours, busy making something edible--broke out the aprons, the chef's hats, the oven gloves, the welding masks, etc., and started working.  
I'd been to the mountains that morning, so we had fresh mushrooms and berries. We had a couple herbs, too, but Popuri'd been making her herb salad for three years in a row (we always figured it was the only thing she knew how to cook) and it was probably a bad idea. After eating the salad, most people would be totally okay going an entire year without herbs before having to smile through it at the Harvest Festival next year. Gray and Rick came in around the same time with some mushrooms and a bunch of eggs. The vegetables from the farm were already in the fridge.  
Gray got the recipe cards down from the box in the empty shack in which they keep everything related to their mother. She kept all her recipes on index cards, smudged with floury fingerprints, and we all sat down on the kitchen floor to look through them. Rain streaked across the windowpanes. It was the perfect day to be indoors cooking with friends.  
We were about a third of the way through the stack when there was a pounding at the door. I was the closest, so I got up and opened it to find Cliff standing there, dripping wet. Cain was perched on his shoulder.  
Cliff opened his mouth to say something, but Ann was faster. "What are you doing standing there?!"  
"The carpenters' shop was closed, and the wind is blowing the rain into the cave," Cliff explained. "I wondered if there was anything I could do to help..."  
Ann already had her umbrella and was propelling him toward the door. "Go! Go! You are going to put on some dry clothes of Gray's, and then we'll talk!"  
They came back a few minutes later, Cliff wearing jeans and an old sweatshirt of Gray's, and we started looking again. Gray settled on his famous stuffed omelet recipe, which I've had more times than I can count and which gets better each time. Ann normally does mashed potatoes, but this year she chose a recipe for corn fritters written neatly in her mother's round handwriting--if you ask me she was just trying to impress Cliff, who really showed off by whipping out a huge blue fish he'd brought and announcing that he was going to make sashimi. Cain, perched on the back of a chair, fluttered his wings as if he wanted to laugh.  
I knew that whatever I cooked, it would be a black lump of char--like something you'd find in your stocking at Christmas if you were bad, only less appetizing. I figured I might as well try to make something with the wild grape, though--I hated to waste it, but on the offchance that it turned out good, at least I could eat it. So I started looking for pie recipes, but then I realized it was hopeless and settled for stamina juice.  
We got out all the pots and pans and utensils and started to work. If you've ever been stuck in an elevator with a herd of mature elephants, you know what it's like to cook in a small, tight kitchen with four other people. We managed, though. Eventually Ann started singing, at the top of her lungs, and I joined in. She whacked Gray over the head a couple times until he started--I'd only heard him sing once before; he was pretty good--and then we got Cliff and Rick singing and we sounded okay. Totally out of tune, but okay.  
Rick said he didn't think he'd bother going to the festival, so he ran around helping the rest of us out with our cooking. He had some new invention to cook vegetables instantly, and after exploding a couple potatoes (after the first one Ann made him go outside to try it), he burst back in to announce that he had it working. With a fast-cooker, the job got done pretty quickly, and we put all the dishes in the fridge for the next day. After we'd cleaned up, the guys shuffled off to the store to talk to Doug, and Ann and I headed for the barn.  
  
"Sooooo?" I asked as I milked one of the cows. The milk zinged into the jar.  
"So what?" Ann was brushing Cliffguard. Again.  
"So what's up with you and Cliff?" I asked. It was best-friend- pumping time. "The wind's blowing in the opposite direction from the mouth of the cave. He just wanted to come here, Ann."  
She reddened a little, so I figured I knew the answer. Nothing phazes her.  
"I like him," she said after a while. I'd moved on to feeding the sheep. "I just don't think he likes me."  
"Annnnn!" I wailed. "Of course he likes you! I know him! I grew up with him! Look, you know he's gonna be at the Festival tomorrow. Ask him to dance!"  
"I don't dance, Karen," she said, but she was grinning now. "Okay, my turn. You and Jack...?"  
"I dunno." I shook my head and grabbed some more fodder for the cows. "At first I thought he was a jerk, but lately he's been okay. And then there was dancing with the Kifu fairies...and he was so sweet yesterday..."  
"Let me see the music box again!" she demanded. I pulled it out of my pocket and showed it to her. "So what do you think?"  
I took it back and repeated, "I dunno. You remember that summer. It was just...I just...I feel like I know him." Yep. No way I was gonna be able to explain this.  
But she was nodding. Best friend intuition thing, y'know. "See what happens tomorrow," she said, in that tone of voice that always makes me suspicious that she already knows what's going to happen, and plans on engineering it every step of the way.  
But then she handed me a pair of clippers and motioned toward the sheep in the back of the barn, and I didn't get to ask her what she meant.  
  
I got up early the next morning, giving myself enough time to take a long, hot bath and get over to the ranch. Ann was already waiting when I got there.  
"Come onnnn!" she cried, jumping up and down. "We're gonna be late, Karen!"  
"Late for what? The festival lasts all day!" I protested from my position a foot or two behind her where I was being dragged by my arm.  
"If we're not there early, we won't get a spot by the entrance to the square, and no one will eat our food!" she insisted. If I remembered right, the square was so small that it only took everyone an hour to make the rounds anyway, but she did have a point in getting people to eat our food before their stomachs got full. I jogged a couple steps to catch up.  
We were the first ones there, so we did end up getting the best spots. Cliff came a couple minutes later, carrying May ("I ran into her on the way," he mouthed to us), and they both set up at our table, too. Secure in the knowledge that all the other morons would just have to fight over the nosebleed seats by the track, we all went down to the bakery to help a struggling Elli with the cakes--for some reason she flashed a wink at Ann--and then got back to the square before everyone came. 


	14. Dancing All Alone

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 13: Dancing All Alone  
  
**********  
  
Jack arrived around nine, walking in with a flicker of something like nervousness on his face. Okay, so I was nervous, too. Aside from when he'd come to see me when I was sick, we hadn't talked since we left the vineyard. We were both exhausted from dancing all night--which was why I was sick the next day--but we'd parted totally jazzed, exhilarated!  
He'd left just as dawn was breaking and the fairies were vanishing into the sky once more. We were standing just outside the gates of the vineyard, not wanting it to be over.  
"Look..." I'd started. "...I don't know how to say this, but...thanks."  
"Thanks for calling me." He grinned. "I can't believe we got to see that. It was really incredible."  
"Yeah..." We were both shifting out weight around, unsure suddenly. "Well, I guess this is goodbye," I said.  
"Just for now..." he whispered. And suddenly his hands were in my hair again and we were kissing.  
We broke, and he looked up into the sky, shading his eyes with his hand. "It's going to rain. I'd better get the animals inside..." He turned and started for the farm, calling "See ya!" over his shoulder.  
"See you later!" I called back, waving. As he got to the bottom of the hill, the first drops of rain began to fall. Suddenly I started to feel drained. I slunk up the stairs and got into bed, and I was just waking up when he returned a few hours later.  
I was still remembering this when he came over. "Hey, Karen," he said cheerfully, the awkwardness melting away. "Glad you're feeling better."  
"Thanks," I said, pouring a glass of the stamina juice and handing it to him. "Here. I want you to be the first one to try my stamina juice."  
He examined the violet-colored liquid sloshing around in the glass carefully, then tilted his head back and took a long drink, the way he did with shots in the bar after a long day in the fields.  
There was a longish pause wherein I fidgeted, watching his face, and he blinked several times and looked around, thinking. "I like it!" he finally announced, beaming. "No seconds, I guess, huh?"  
He appeared to be totally serious. "Nope," I told him. "Check back at the end of the day and I'll give you the rest if there's any left." I felt Ann poke me in the back: smooth move. I had effectively given him a reason to come find me later. If you ever want a relationship in this godforsaken little village, girls, just watch and learn.  
Okay, subject change. "So, who do you think is going to be king this year?" I asked.  
He shrugged. "No idea. How does it work? Elli stopped by yesterday and told me she was making cakes."  
"Yeah," I explained. "She bakes a big cake, and before she bakes it she puts a coin inside. Then she slices it up and gives a piece to all the guys. The one who finds the coin is the next king."  
"So who all is getting a slice this year?" he asked.  
I shifted again and ran a hand through my hair. "Well...because all of us girls are getting old enough to be married, it's just you, Kai, Gray, Cliff, Harris, and Jeff this year." I could just feel myself blushing. "See, they want one of us to end up with the King."  
It was probably my imagination, but in the sunlight, his cheeks looked a little red too. "If she splits the cake equally six ways, then all of us have the same chance, right?"  
"Don't bet on it!" Ann called. We both turned back to look at her. She started whistling innocently and paying a lot of attention to the vegetables she'd washed off in desperation that morning.  
"Are you going to go around?" Jack asked.  
"Maybe later. Right now I have to stay here and dish this stuff out," I told him.  
"You want me to bring you anything?"  
"Can you pick up a little of Popuri's herb salad for me?" I asked. "I want to see if she got it right this year."  
She actually did okay, and of course Maria's cabbage dish was impeccable (and of course she was very polite and not mean about the fact that she cooked way better than we did, which just made it worse--Ann and I are culinarily challenged). Kai came over to chat for a while, too, and all in all I was having a pretty good time when Elli came out.  
All the guys gathered around, looking like little kids at a birthday party, and she carefully sliced the cake six ways. She handed one piece to each guy in turn, going clockwise around the cake in her precise way.  
Rick had sat down with a pencil and paper the day before and worked out the exact statistical chances of the coin being everywhere, and what chance you had if you drew first or second or fifth or whatever, and statistically where the coin had the greatest chance of being, given Elli's previous record of baking it, and so on and so forth. He'd already made a chart of the cake and was standing directly behind her, making notes as she cut it. She was starting to look annoyed.  
Jeff went first, chewing his piece slowly and thoughtfully. He shook his head and stepped back, motioning for Harris to go. Harris broke the cake in his hand first, looked through it, then stepped off and ate it piece by piece. Elli was cringing as she handed Gray and Kai their pieces. Rick started muttering about tampering with statistics, but she shot him a Look and he sank back into submissive silence. Neither of them had the coin, although Kai rarely got sweets and looked like he was really enjoying his cake, and as Cliff stepped up, the crowd was starting to murmur.  
"Hey, it's Cliff," I muttered to Ann.  
"I know," she said. "He won't get it, though."  
"How do you know?"  
She pointed. "Because you were talking, your moron cousin went ahead and ate it."  
I looked up. Yep, he was cleaning crumbs from his mouth, Cain on his shoulder looking disgusted--clearly thinking "how could anyone eat something COOKED?!" Elli handed Jack the last piece, and he took a big bite. He chewed for a few seconds, cheerfully saying, "Dssh ish gddd!" through a full mouth to Elli, then spitting something out into his hand. He held it up triumphantly, and I saw the glint of gold catching the sunlight.  
I saw Ann and Elli exchange glances, and Rick was still fuming over his statistical failures, so I had a pretty good idea what had happened.  
"It's not what you're thinking..." Ann muttered.  
"Yeah?" I asked.  
"You know she always gives it to the guy she likes best," she replied.  
"Explain the potion shop guy," I shot back. She was about to answer when Mayor Thomas got up.  
"Congratulations, Jack!" the mayor cried. "You're the next King! The King will take an active part in the Spirit, Sowing, and Flower festivals." He looked around. "All right, it's time for the dancing. Everyone find a partner!"  
  
Jack and Cliff started heading back our way. They seemed to be involved in some major discussion that was causing Cliff to get red and wave his arms around. They had almost got there when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around to see Kai.  
"Hey, Karen--" Jack called.  
"Uhm...Mi--Karen?" asked Kai.  
"Would you dance with me?" they asked at the same time.  
I looked back and forth. This was one of those problems that every girl hates. I mean, what am I supposed to do when I'm faced with two good friends of mine, both of whom are intelligent, strong, funny guys and both of whom are standing there looking at me with puppy eyes?! I hate the puppy eyes. I really wanted to dance with Jack, but I didn't want to hurt Kai's feelings. The best thing to do would be not to dance with anyone, but...  
I could feel the electricity crackling in the air between them. I figured I'd better do something fast.  
"I guess I'll dance on my own this time," I said quietly, cutting between them to get to the center of the square. Oh, God, I did not not not want to deal with this...  
I stood defiantly in the center of the square, watching as Cliff shyly came up to Ann. I noticed Maria standing on the sidelines, watching quietly, but Popuri looked almost like she was eyeing Gray. I caught Jack's eyes and mouthed a silent apology to him. He looked away and leaned glumly against the back wall. Kai's eyes were still flashing. I knew that if I'd chosen, danced with Jack, he wouldn't be angry. But because they'd fought, and there hadn't been a victory or a loss, he was angry. Not that I could really blame him.  
So Ann and Cliff, the Mayor and his wife, and Stu and May were the only couples dancing, and I spun in circles in the very center, trying to forget. 


	15. Reaping What You've Sown

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 14: Reaping What You've Sown  
  
**********  
  
I left the festival early, before the dancing was done. I was tired of trying to throw myself into it and ignore the acid glares of the two guys.  
I had just gotten down the steps when I heard footsteps. "Wait up, Karen!" Jack called.  
I slowed down. "Hey, Jack."  
"You looked good out there." He sounded a little hurt.  
"Look...I'm really sorry. I just...I wanted to dance with you, but I just can't hurt Kai's feelings, y'know?" I said. "He's a friend of mine, and he's been through a lot."  
"I know." We walked in silence for a little while. "There's something I wanted to ask you."  
"Shoot."  
He was looking at the sky. "What do people do here when they want to go out?"  
I shrugged. "It's not like there's anywhere to go on a date. The closest we get is going up to the mountains or something. Mostly you just help the person do their chores and spend time with them. Hang out at festivals."  
"Yeah?" He had a weird look on his face. "So...umm...what I want to say is...I like you. A lot." Was I grinning? I felt like I had this huge stupid grin on my face.  
"Would you be my girlfriend?" he asked.  
"Of course!" I laughed.  
He smiled. "I'm glad." We were still walking, and somehow his fingers had slipped into mine without either of us noticing. "We have the rest of the day off. Do you want to go do something?" he asked.  
I looked back up toward the square. "I don't really want to go back there." I held up the stamina juice. "I still have some of this left, though. It's a pretty warm day. We could go to the beach and have another picnic or something."  
"I've got some vegetables, and I know there's bread and cheese in the cupboard," he said. "Do you like pizza?"  
I gaped at him. "Are you kidding? I never get pizza. I think I've had it, like, once."  
"Okay, here's what we can do. We'll go back to the farm, whip up a pizza, then head down to the beach, okay?"  
"Sounds good," I said.  
He showed me how to toss the bread, and we got the pizza done pretty fast. Then we took the quilt off his bed ("don't worry about it," he said. "I can wash it later") and went down to the beach. We spent the evening there, just talking and swimming, and I felt like we were five years old. I wanted that night to last forever.  
  
But all good things must come to an end, so I left around nine to get back home. The next day was the beginning of harvest season.  
Fall is an easy time for everyone but the vineyard workers. There are rarely any new animals being born at the ranch, and the animals that were born in the Spring are starting to need less care. Around here, the only crop that grows in Fall is eggplant, so Jack had an easy season too. Their fortunes, and those of the fishermen and the carpenter, are made during the Spring and Summer. Fall is when the final preparations for a barren winter are made. The mountains are crowded with people fighting over mushrooms and the last of the herbs to stock their freezers with or sell.  
But I don't leave the vineyard much from the day after the Harvest Festival until the end of Fall, because that's the season we're out in the grapevines. The grapes have to be harvested, prepared, and then put in barrels to age.  
That morning, we were out at six AM. For the first few hours, we talked a lot, but after that no one said anything much. Even on a cool Fall day, working in the vineyard is hot, tiring work, and when the sun comes, talking is too much effort, especially with a wooden barrel perched on your hip.  
We took an hour for lunch break--usually some bread and a little cake for energy. Sometimes Ann or Cliff would bring some eggs or milk for us, and when Jack figured out the routine, he'd come by with eggplant or mushrooms from the mountains. Then we'd go back to work until sunset. When the sun went down, I dragged myself down to the the river to get the sweat and dust off myself. Then I went to the bar, where Duke had some dinner--more cake and usually some meat--waiting for me. In between waiting the tables, I had the stuff I needed to make stamina juice for the next day set up in the back. I worked until midnight, then went home and fell into bed for six hours of sleep before I had to get up and do it all again.  
  
It sounds tough, and I'm not gonna lie: it is a brutal schedule. And don't think that we didn't complain--for weeks all Kai and I could do was moan about it all. But like anything else, I guess, we fell into the routine, and after that it wasn't quite as bad. And people were pretty helpful, too. Ann came for a few hours on Thursdays to help, usually dragging Cliff with her. Ann's a very active person, but she's strong, and she can focus when she needs to. Cliff already knew the work, and he did it without complaining, so he was a good person to help. Jack came by every day to deliver the things for lunch, and he usually stayed for an hour or two to help with the harvesting. I could feel the tension between him and Kai.  
"Karen?" my dad asked sharply one day when Jack left.  
"Yeah? What is it, Dad?" I asked without turning around. I could feel this coming.  
"The old man's grandson, Jack...he's been hanging around here a lot lately." I saw Kai's back stiffen from where he was bent over working. He kept working, but the pace slowed almost imperceptibly. No way was I dumb enough to think he wasn't listening.  
"I hadn't noticed." Kept the sarcasm out of my voice that time.  
"Why is he spending so much time around you?"  
I shrugged. "He likes girls with a perpetual layer of dust covering their hair?"  
"Karen!" Dad snapped sharply.  
I wanted to explain that we were going out, but I didn't want to have to see the look on Kai's face. So I said nothing. Eventually Dad grunted and went back to work.  
  
We were a week and a half in when things started moving again. Mom and Dad had gone inside, and Kai and I were putting everything away for tomorrow before going off to wash up.  
"Karen..." Kai began, "I never see you anymore."  
"You've been spending twelve hours a day with me for the past week and a half," I grumbled. It'd been a long day.  
"Other than that," he said. "You haven't been at the vineyard much. As soon as your chores are done, you take off."  
"What are you lecturing me for?" I snapped. "You're the one who has no work ethic at all."  
"Yes..." He was focused on his work, scrubbing the barrel to clean it. "I've just been thinking a lot."  
"About...?"  
"Do...do you still want to go to the city?" he asked.  
I shrugged. "I just don't know. Sometimes it's so frustrating...ask me that again when I taste the first of this wine."  
He nodded and we kept working. It would be a long time before I thought about it again.  
  
Fall twenty-fifth was Jack's birthday, and I remembered it at ten in the morning in the middle of harvesting. Damn! Well, I rationalized, I'd been working nonstop for weeks. I deserved a break, right? I took off before Dad could say anything and raced for the wine cellar. I knew I had a bottle or two of Scarlet Sonata, one of Grandma's old wines, on the rack somewhere. No need to worry about the year--every year was good when Grandma was making wine. I found a bottle, blew some of the dust off it, and went upstairs and out to the house to look throught my room.  
I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I went through the chest of drawers until I found a charm bracelet and settled on it. Ann and I slept over at each other's houses a bunch, and when we had slumber parties, we usually made some popcorn and then came up with a craft or something. No TV, no Internet, no phone so we couldn't even prank-call Rick or someone, so we pretty much had to come up with things to do on our own. One time Ann had taken out some colored embroidery floss and some little charms and said that Ellen had told her how to make a good-luck charm bracelet. You wove the floss together, and on it you strung the charms, using different ones for the kind of luck you wanted. So if you wanted to find a boyfriend, you should put a lot of heart charms and little stars so he would ask you out on Starry Night. Stuff like that.  
Ann put a lot of animals on hers--little chickens and cows and horses and sheep--so the farm would have good luck. I wanted to wish for the vineyard, but there weren't any grape charms or anything, so I strung a lot of suns and moons and stars on it to wish for good weather so the grapes wouldn't get waterlogged.  
Farmers needed good weather, too, for the animals. I picked the bracelet up and set off for the farm.  
Jack was just finishing up the eggplant-watering stage of farm work when I got there. He came over when he saw me. "Hey, Karen," he called.  
"Happy birthday!" I cried, giving him a hug. "I brought you some presents!"  
"Come on, you didn't have to do that..." he was blushing.  
I took things out of my bag. "Here's some wine..." I said, and then my fingers found the bracelet. "...and a silly charm bracelet." I handed it to him. "They say it brings good luck. So...ummm...well, wear it!"  
He grinned and slipped it onto his wrist. "Good luck, huh?"  
I nodded. "It...should help with the weather. You know, so you can keep the animals outside..."  
"Thanks a lot. I'm so glad to get a gift I can actually use!" He took a piece of cake from his bag and handed it to me. "Here, I meant to bring you that. Elli made me a birthday cake." I took it. Chocolate. Why'd it have to be chocolate cake? She was really going after him, wasn't she?  
If he knew what I was thinking, and I doubted it, he didn't show it. "Maria brought me a painting, and Popuri came over with some potpourri for my room, and Cliff brought me some fish and the horn of some weird animal he found when he was adventuring or something like that, but this is the first gift that I really needed," he continued.  
"Well...I gotta get back to work," I said. "Dad'll be mad that I took off."  
"Here, I'll help," he offered, and we started back together.  
  
My father stormed out. I staggered, my shaking fingers releasing the mug. The wine spilled onto the floor, running in a bloodred puddle and seeping into the wooden floorboards. I sank to my knees, the cool liquid running up against my skin. Laughter echoed in the empty bar, and I realized it was mine.  
"Umm...stupid..." I whispered. A loud yawn broke out of my throat. I wanted to lie down on the floor and go to sleep.  
Sleep. Warm, happy dreams with the ocean and no one yelling...  
"Karen. Karen. Are you okay?" A brown hand waving in front of my face. "Karen? It's me, Kai."  
"Whaaa-aat?" I dragged up to my feet. "Stupid."  
"You're drunk," he murmured, like he couldn't believe it.  
"Yeah, well," I slurred, "we all have our faults." I slunk out.  
Behind me I heard, "...I'll try hard, so..." 


	16. Having Your Cake and Eating It Too

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 15: Having Your Cake and Eating It Too  
  
**********  
  
Thanksgiving festival.  
Pteh.  
Okay, okay, I'm done, you know what I think. It's a pain--a festival entirely about bringing cakes to guys. Which is pretty stupid, when you think about it. None of us can cook, so we all just buy our cakes from the bakery anyway, and if you take a look around, most of these guys really don't need any more cake than they're already eating.  
Mom got up early to bake a cake for Dad, and I was sprawled on the sofa watching her when it occured to me that this year I had a boyfriend, which meant that sometime in the next five hours, I had to find and procure an edible cake for him. I was really tempted to run out early and buy one from Elli, but then I realized that she'd show up at the farm with a homemade cake, and I might as well get cracking. So I got out the ingredients, followed Mom's recipe, and came out with a light, fluffy cylindrical thing that looked something like a cake is supposed to. I thought a minute, then added a strawberry on top.  
I wanted to get to the farm, but I knew Jack'd be too busy with the animals to talk, so I headed for the beach to wait. On the way I passed Ann, who was sprinting around with a box tucked under her arm.  
"Hey, Karen, have you seen Cliff?!" she called.  
It was snowing lightly. "Checked the carpenter's shop yet? Maybe the cave?"  
She shook her head and said, "I'll go do that." She started running again in the direction of Moon Mountain.  
"Hey, Ann!" I yelled. "What kind of cake is it?!"  
Even in the distance, I could see her blushing. "Chocolate!" she yelled back.  
Good choice; Cliff liked chocolate. I smiled and kept walking.  
It was kinda cold with the snow falling, and I was starting to be glad I'd worn jeans. I'd had to leave without a jacket, though, because the only one I had was hanging over a chair by the fireplace drying. I rubbed my arms and started to hope that Jack would finish the farm work soon.  
Eventually I got back closer to the rock overhang to keep some of the snow off me, and then I started dancing to try to keep warm. There is nothing more stupid than sitting down in half-frozen sand at the beach, getting damp and even colder than normal from the sea breeze and the snow, just because you're waiting for some moron to finish milking the cows or whatever the hell it is he does over there.  
I'm not sure how long I waited there, dancing in the snow, but it must've been a while because eventually Jack showed up.  
"Karen, you gotta be more careful. I could see you from the farm. You're gonna get the worst cold," he told me. "Here." He took his jacket off and draped it around my shoulders.  
I slipped my arms into it and zipped it all the way up. "Thanks," I said.  
"So how are things going at the vineyard?" he asked, leaning back against the cliff face next to me.  
I was huffing on my fingers, trying to breathe life back into them. "It's--boring--in Winter." He took my hands in his gloved ones and rubbed them. I straightened up and kept talking. "There are almost no chores to do, so we're mostly just wandering around. On days like today, we work in the wine cellar."  
"When is the first new wine going to be done?"  
I shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Usually the first of it is ready as early as one season after being harvested and put into the barrels, and we started aging the first grapes as soon as we harvested them. We might get the first of it in a few weeks. Until then, though, we're just sitting around playing cards and eating cake."  
"Hey, speaking of cake, what's the deal with this Thanksgiving Festival thing? Ann and Cliff were coming down from Moon Mountain with a bunch of cake, but I didn't really get what they were saying."  
"Yeah, she does talk fast when she's happy." So Cliff had liked the cake. Well, good for them. I'd go talk to Ann later. "Basically all the women have to bake cakes and give them to the guys. And if you like the person who gave you the cake, you give her some chocolate or something in the Spring." Okay, I'd just made that part up. If I had my way, we'd have some real festivals around here, like chicken sumo or tomato-flinging, but then again I don't get to make the festivals, and it seemed like a good way to get some chocolate.  
"So did you make any cake?" he asked.  
"Me? Thanksgiving Festival cake?" I grinned. "Don't need it. Mom is baking one for Dad." He looked kind of downcast, so I took pity on him. "Oh, do you want some?"  
"Just a little," he answered.  
I laughed. "You're honest." He looked kind of embarrassed. "Don't worry about it, I was going to come bring you some anyway. Okay, here, I'll share with you." I broke off half the cake and handed it to him. The rest I slipped into a little wooden box I'd gotten from the kitchen so he could carry it to his fridge.  
"Thanks," he said gratefully. Then, chewing, "This doesn't taste like the bakery cake. Did you bake this yourself?"  
"Yeah...it's my mom's strawberry shortcake recipe. Why? Is it that bad?"  
He shook his head. "It's good! I thought you said you couldn't cook."  
I rolled my eyes. "Well, if you listen to Elli, anything you put all your energy into will turn out good." He laughed and broke a little off his. "You didn't get any of your own cake. Try it. It's better than I think you're thinking it is."  
I ate it, and it actually was really good. Wow. That brought the list of non-alcoholic food items I could cook up to about two. Good thing Mom stopped me from dumping in all that sugar.  
"Oh, there you are! Hi, Jack!" Elli was coming down the path to the beach, her arms loaded with a heavy-looking box. The warm scent of cake was already drifting from it. "I was baking all morning. Here, I saved my best cake for you." The breeze ruffled her hair and made her long skirt sway. In the light snowfall, she looked like the picture of gentle, kind, feminine warmth. I'd bet ten to one she was batting her eyelashes at him, too. It was enough to make your stomach turn.  
"Thanks, Elli," Jack was saying, hefting the large box in his arms and standing there, holding it awkwardly. "I'm sure it tastes great."  
"Oh, you know..." she was blushing. "I just know you've only been here for a year and I wasn't sure how much cake you'd get. I wanted to make sure you felt at home here. Well, see you later!" She leaned forward to give him a peck on the cheek, then scampered off like a terrier.  
I'm okay with Elli, but jeez, she and Popuri get on my nerves sometimes. She probably did really like Jack, but how oblivious--or catty--do you have to be to try to steal a guy right out from under his girlfriend's nose? What's really sad is that sometimes it works.  
Not today, though.  
When she was out of earshot, Jack opened the box, broke off two pieces, and handed me one. "Here's to a sugar high."  
"And calories galore," I agreed. Cheesecake. It was incredibly rich. I could feel the extra pounds rolling down my stomach to my hips.  
Jack finished chewing, looked at the rest of the cake in his hand, and set it down in the box. "I liked your cake better," he said.  
I agreed.  
  
I was bored and restless a lot. In the beginning of Winter, there's nothing to do. The end of Winter is one of the best times of the year, but before that nothing happens. I went to the mine when it was snowing. We were still living off the wine from the year before, so I figured a little extra take wouldn't be a bad thing.  
I went down to the farm most days. A few days after the Thanksgiving Festival, Jack took me inside the house to show off his new kitchen. There was nothing to harvest, so I helped with the animals. From hanging out with Ann, I knew how to do most of the easy stuff, from brushing and milking the cows to collecting the eggs from the chicken coop. We had just finished all the work one morning and were splitting a basket of strawberries Popuri had brought over when his cow finally gave birth. There is nothing more romantic than helping your boyfriend while he reaches up inside a cow and carefully, gently pulls out a brand-new calf. We cleaned her off together and fed her, leaving her curled up next to her mother in the warm pile of hay. "I think she has my eyes," I joked, so Jack named her Karen.  
I spent a lot of time at the ranch, too. There were even more animals that needed to be cared for there. Eventually we split up the work to make it easier. I carried the fodder and fed all the animals, Ann brushed and talked to them, Gray collected milk, eggs, and wool, and Cliff checked all the animals to make sure they were healthy and then went off to sell everything. We got the system down to an art, and after a week or so we made a pretty good team.  
Ann and I hung out in the barn most of the time. She was even more comfortable there than in her room, and she liked to be near the animals, especially when it was snowing.  
One day I was practicing posting around the stable on Cliff when she burst in, her eyes shining. "Karen!" she yelled. "Cliff--he just told me he loves me!"  
I jumped off the horse, got a sugar cube from the box in the corner where Ann keeps them, and set it flat on the palm of my hand so he could take it. "Say that again, slowly," I told her.  
"We were walking out by the river, and we'd just seen the Pika bunny-- "  
"What?" I asked.  
"The Pika bunny? Remember?" She waved her hand in front of my face. "It's that rare snow rabbit that can only be seen by a couple walking in the snow. They say if you see it, you'll be together forever." She sighed romantically. I made a mental note to check the weather reports when I got home to see when it was going to snow again. "ANYHOW," she shouted, startling me out of my daydream, "I said 'look at the river, I love the way it looks in the snow' and he said 'I love you.' So I told him I loved him too, and we sat and watched the Pika bunny until it went away and then we came back here and here I am!" She breathed again for the first time since the whole speech started. "Do you think he's going to give me a blue feather?"  
"Do you want him to?" I asked.  
She jumped up and down. "Of course!"  
"Then definitely," I told her. "See you later."  
"What? Where are you going?" she cried, batting her braid back and forth.  
"I...um..." I felt myself turning red and decided to use it. "I'm gonna go ask Jack to go for a walk with me."  
She grinned and poked me. I left.  
  
"The Pika bunny, huh?" I asked Cliff. We had been sitting on the floor of the cave until one of the Harvest Sprites took pity on us and invited us in. So we ducked through the hole in the cave wall and half-crawled into their house. All three of them were very friendly and seemed sympathetic to the way we were shivering, giving us hot tea and cookies. You can't grow up around here without making friends with the Harvest Sprites. I try to throw in an offering to the Goddess of the wood every now and then, too, because if the spirits around here don't like you, you can forget about having anything go your way. Reference the vineyard.  
My cousin nodded, looking a little embarassed. "Yeah. It looked a little like that yellow thing I saw in Japan. What was it called...?"  
"Stop trying to change the subject," I snapped. "You know what I'm asking. You're in love with Ann, right?"  
He nodded, miserably. "But I don't know what to do. I mean, her father would never let her marry a guy like me. I'm just a drifter. I don't know anything about how to be a good husband."  
"Ooh! Love!" cackled one of the Harvest Sprites. "You should pray to the Goddess for divine guidance!"  
I ignored him. "Cliff! What are you talking about? You love her, right?" He nodded. "And she loves you, riiiight?"  
He nodded again. "She said she does..."  
"That's all you need!" I banged my fist down on the table for emphasis. "Doug has some time still left in him, but when he dies, Ann and Gray will inherit the ranch. You won't ever have to worry about being able to make ends meet. And he's been trying to get her married off for years. Our parents all hear Lillia going on about how she was married and had Popuri already when she was our age, and they all think there's something wrong with us if we're not married by the time we turn twenty. Which, incidentally, will happen to me on the twenty- ninth, and you'd better have a present for me. I'm the second-oldest girl here." Maria was, what? Two weeks older? At least she never held it over my head.  
Cliff spoke hesitantly, snapping my thoughts back to the room. "Do you think she'd say yes if I asked her to marry me?" he asked.  
"I know she would. She was just telling me she wanted you to ask her."  
"Really?" His eyes were hopeful. He looked like the little calf I'd just delivered.  
I dragged him up and shoved him to the door. "Go for it, Cliff!"  
He punched me. "Thanks for the encouragement." Then he got down on his hands and knees and started to crawl out into the cave. "I'm gonna go see if Rick's shop is still open!" 


	17. When I Quit Wineing

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 16: When I Quit Wine-ing  
  
**********  
  
Another week went by. Cliff proposed to Ann, who ran squealing to me, fluffy little bits of blue still shining in her hair. We danced around and laughed and cried and hugged a lot. She was so happy, and I was happy for her. Cliff came by to see me later, beaming.  
Actually, the whole village was in a pretty good mood. Winter is a very social season, more than anything else. There's less work to be done--nothing to pick in the mountains, nothing to harvest, very little to fish--and so everyone goes visiting instead. The bar was jammed every night--not just the regulars, but other people too. And every night we didn't spend there, we spent by the fire in someone's house, talking over cake. The bakery and the bar were doing a ton of business. Winter is a good season to relax, look around, and talk to people. Even Lillia and Popuri, who can't stand winter, were generally content.  
The only person who didn't seem to be happy was Kai. When I get down, I drink too much, but Kai came to the bar less frequently, maybe realizing that if he started drinking, he wouldn't have been able to stop. Instead, he spent more time in his room, writing letters or looking glumly out the window. He put in long hours in the wine cellar, too. I didn't know what he did in there. Once I came in to find him just wandering around, bleakly.  
"Are you okay?" I asked.  
He smiled. "Winter is such a cold month." Then he looked out the window. Ann and Cliff were passing in the crossroads, laughing. "They look so happy..."  
I didn't know what to say, so I just left before he started muttering about roots going down deeper in arid land. Sometimes Kai just needs to be alone.  
We all learned card games--blackjack, poker, go fish, crazy eights, war, everything. And Maria hauled out some big catalogues she had of things we could order from the mainland. We ordered some Monopoly sets. It was the first time any of us had ever played, but we got a lot of practice.  
Ann and I figured that our project to draw Maria out of her shell was starting to be a success, actually. She and Harris started a chess club that winter, so we all learned that, too. It got so half the time in the bar all you heard was "checkmate!"  
Jack and I spent more time together, too. We went up in the mountains a lot, especially the hot springs. They got built that winter, and they were one of the best things to happen all year. There is nothing better than a hot bath after you've been working hard. One day we went out in the snow and saw Ann's Pika bunny. We'd take care of the animals in the mornings, and then I'd practice dancing. At night he came to the bar a lot, and I'd sit down on the edge of the table and hang out for a while.  
Mostly what we did was talk, though, which I liked. Sometimes I'd have a fight with my dad, and I'd reenact the whole thing while he listened. Sometimes there'd be a storm that blew away half his fence or he'd get a letter from his father that made him mad, and I'd listen to him. Sometimes we'd both talk--about everything or nothing, it didn't matter. I found that like with Ann, he and I thought the same way a lot, and we understood each other pretty well. I think I really needed someone who could understand.  
  
It was a snowy morning in midwinter, and I woke up and figured it was a day for the wine cellar.  
I was heading out the front door at the same time Kai was racing in. We collided, and both of us ended up on the floor. He was on his feet first, helping me up. "Come on!" he cried, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the cellar. He was reminding me strangely of Ann, so I figured I'd better go see what was up.  
"There!" He slammed to a stop in front of one of the aging barrels. "THAT is the first new wine of the year!"  
Dad came up the stairs with a bottle of wine in his hand and Mom trailing behind him. He handed the bottle to me. "The first of it. Just finished putting it in the keg," he grunted. "Try it."  
I slid a glass off the rack, dusted it off. They all gathered around as I uncorked it and poured myself a glass. Slowly, I placed the edge of the wine glass on my lips and took a tiny sip, closing my eyes and letting the flavor soak into my tongue.  
It was incredible.  
"Here!" I thrust the bottle at Kai, who was the nearest. "You've gotta try it!" He took the glass and poured a little for himself, closing his eyes and taking it in slowly as I had.  
His eyes flew open and he let out a whoop of joy and, in an incredibly uncharacteristic action, threw his arms around me. "You did it, Karen! This is it! This is it!" He picked me up and swung me around the room, and then we started dancing, ecstatic.  
My mother was smiling as she handed the bottle to my father. As he drank, I saw a single tear run down his face.  
  
Jack was just coming out the door when I raced onto the farm. "Hi there!" I called. "Good morning!"  
"Hey, Karen!" He jogged over. "You're out of breath. You've been running? In this weather?"  
I inhaled slowly. "Hey, we finished making the wine!"  
"Already?"  
I explained, "Some of it is still being aged, but this is the first wine of the year." I took out the bottle. "Try it."  
He looked around. "Come on inside," he said, holding the door for me.  
We went inside, and he dragged over two wooden chairs. "Sorry it's not much," he apologized. "I just had these made."  
"Not at all." I looked around. The rug on the floor was new. It made the room feel a lot warmer and more comfortable. "This place is starting to look really nice, Jack."  
He rolled his eyes and grinned, looking a little embarassed. "Thanks. I have enough money for a greenhouse, but if I get it now I won't have any money for crops or animal feed come spring. So I decided that this winter I'd work on making this place look a little more like a home." He smiled, his cheeks a little red, from the cold, I guess. "So, do I get to try this incredible new wine or not?"  
"Coming right up." I set the bottle on the table and withdrew two wine glasses from my bag while he lit a fire. When he returned to the table, I poured us each a glass.  
Jack raised it. "A toast," he said, "to the return of the Moon Mountain Vineyard!"  
"To the vineyard," I echoed. Our glasses clinked in the firelight.  
We drank slowly, savoring the taste of the wine. Jack was silent for a long time, and then he said, "This is...amazing."  
I smiled. "Good, isn't it? It's totally different from before. This might even become as good as Grandma's wine."  
"Better," he said, reaching across the table to take my hand in his. Without his gloves on, I could see that he was wearing the bracelet I'd given him for his birthday.  
"You're wearing it?" I asked.  
"Of course. I always wear this," he said. Then he grinned. "It's lucky, remember?"  
I stood up and came around the table so I could kiss him, and then we sat back down to drink the year's first glasses of wine.  
  
"Good evening," I greeted Jack as he came up the beach.  
"So, explain it to me again...what's this Star Night thing?" he asked.  
"It's kind of a year end festival. Some people go to the church, Popuri goes up on the mountain...everyone looks up at the stars and reflects on the year. It's kind of an introspective festival," I explained. "And a lot of people spend it...with the person they care about..."  
He looked sideways at me. I coughed and sat on the sand, trailing my fingers in the water. The first streak of starlight caught my eye, and I leaned back and laid on my back in the sand to watch it.  
"Look!" I pointed upward. "Isn't it great? We'll be able to see lots of shooting stars tonight."  
Jack stretched out next to me and we watched in silence for a long time.  
The breeze left strands of hair flying into my mouth. I sat up and wrapped my arms around my legs, shivering.  
"What's wrong?" Jack asked, also sitting up.  
"The sea breeze feels chilly..." All right, so it was the oldest cliché in the book, but I really was cold. Goosebumps were standing out on my bare arms. I began to wish I'd brought a jacket.  
He laughed softly and scootched closer to me, his arms around me.  
"Oh, you can be so considerate..." I murmured. Why not go for broke? "My hands are cold. They get cold so quickly."  
He took off his gloves and took my hands in his. For the first time, I felt the calluses on them, felt the strength within them. He wasn't the same city kid he'd been less than a year ago. Something in him had changed. I could feel it.  
"Your hands are...warm," I said.  
"Yeah, well...you know. I work a lot." He shrugged, the movement sending a shiver through my spine.  
I turned in to him. His face was lit up by starlight, and he was smiling at me.  
With one motion, we leaned in toward each other and our lips met. 


	18. A Joining and a Separation

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 17: A Joining and a Separation  
  
**********  
  
Winter was coming to an end. The snow began to stop falling, piling up in drifts that melted slowly in the growing sunlight.  
I woke up early one morning the week before my birthday and went outside to check the mail. The sky was a pale violet and the sun was beginning to emerge over the horizon.  
I nearly knocked Ann over.  
"Ann, what are you doing here at six in the morning?" I asked, yawning.  
Her eyes were shining, her cheeks flushed. "Karen, Cliff and I are getting married today!"  
"You are?" Where had I been? My best friend and my cousin, and they tell me the morning of the wedding?  
"Yeah! C'mon, you gotta help me get ready!" She grabbed my arm and started to drag me toward the ranch.  
Her room was a total mess, even more than usual. Everything was thrown everywhere, lace and flowers and horse brushes thrown everywhere in one big mass. I stood in the doorway for a minute, totally lost on where to begin. Ann hurled herself into a chair and ordered "flowers!" Right.  
After five minutes of wandering around totally blindly, I finally shipped Gray off to go get someone who had some clue what they were doing. He was back in ten minutes with Maria, Elli, and Popuri, who immediately started working.  
Popuri managed to sort out all the flowers. When she had them all piled up in a two-foot stack on the floor, she looked them over and shook her head decisively: "Not enough!" She took off out the door and was back within minutes, her arms loaded down with blossoms in every color. She grabbed the corner by the bed and started arranging madly until it looked like a floral hurricane had hit. Finally she dragged a totally bewildered Gray over to help her.  
Elli marched across the farm into Gray's shack and commandeered the kitchen. I caught the scent of cake drifting on the wind, and I smiled. I could practically see the frosting fly.  
Maria and I, who weren't particularly brilliant at cooking or the fine art of ikebana, started working on Ann. Through a concerted team effort, we got her hair brushed and put up, and the veil set on her head. I left the two of them to deal with the dress while I ran back to the vineyard and started crating up wine for the reception. If memory served me well, we'd need a lot.  
  
The wedding was beautiful. If you had to pick the person least likely to get sappy at a wedding on the whole island, it'd probably wind up a tie between me and Gray, but both of us were nearly crying by the time it was over. I had a really hard time keeping a straight face when Cain led the flock of white doves soaring over the church, though.  
The party was held in the square. The best thing about weddings is that they're like festival days. Everyone is happy, the wine flows like a waterfall, and there's music and laughter and dancing. Ann and Cliff really seemed to like my gift, too--the first official bottle of the new wine from the vineyard. Harris, Jack, Kai, Jeff, and Gray played an ocarina quintet while I danced to the wedding tribute song.  
We were there all day and well into the night. It was past midnight by the time the happy couple left for the ranch. I was busy cleaning and packing up the rest of the wine when Kai came over.  
"Hey, Kai," I said, wiping down the long tables. "Great party, huh?"  
"Umm...yeah." He was smashing his toe into the ground, looking down.  
"You need something?"  
"I have...I have to talk to you," he almost whispered.  
"Go ahead. I'm listening."  
"Mi--Karen, I..." He trailed off, then forced himself to look at me. "I want to go back to the city. And you...I mean..." This time he stopped totally. "Karen, will you marry me?"  
It was only then that I saw the glint of blue clenched in his fist.  
For an instant, a thought flashed through my mind: say yes. This may be your only chance to get away from here. Never to hear Dad yell again, never to hear Mom sobbing late at night. Get out, Karen. Take off and never look back.  
The yes was on my lips.  
And then two more thoughts shot through my mind like lightning. I loved the vineyard. Since the Kifu fairies had returned, I felt almost like a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. And things were starting to change. My parents were beginning to smile.  
And then I realized that the vineyard wasn't the only reason I wanted to stay.  
Memories of a blue and orange baseball cap returned to me. The image of fireworks on the beach, a music box, the silver glint of fairies on grapevines, a glass of red wine by firelight. A warm smile and a pair of chocolate brown eyes, the feeling of a mouth moving against mine. They pounded against my skull, crescendoing until there was only thought in my mind.  
I was in love with Jack.  
The thought formed in my head, and as soon as I had it, I knew it was right. There was no longer any hesitation.  
"Kai...I can't," I said.  
Confusion crossed his face for a moment, and then it was gone, replaced by understanding and a quiet resignation.  
I really felt bad now. "Look, Kai," I began, "for what it's worth, you're a great guy, and I know you're going to make some girl out there really happy. Just...not me."  
He looked at me. "Does he know?"  
I shook my head. "It took me a long time to realize it myself."  
"You should tell him." I felt his eyes burning into mine. He was telling me something important. "You deserve someone who will make you happy."  
"I..." I began.  
He pressed a finger to my lips. "Go after him, Karen."  
Then he turned his back on me and crossed silently down the stairs, leaving me alone in the darkness. 


	19. Happy Birthday to Me

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 18: Happy Birthday to Me  
  
**********  
  
I stopped by the ranch to pick up the eggs a few mornings after the wedding, and I got halfway through the crossroads when I heard Ann yelling. Ann yells a lot, but only the loud, cheerful, genki kind of yelling. She almost never yells when she's angry, and I figured it had to mean trouble. I hurled myself in the direction of the ranch and ran as fast as I could.  
I was just inside the gate of the ranch when a grooming brush slammed straight into the side of my head. I went down like a rock.  
I think I blacked out for a second there, but the next thing I knew Gray was helping me up.  
"What the hell is going on?!" I demanded. "A war?!"  
Gray laughed, a low chuckle that I rarely heard from him. He'd never been the same since the accident, but he was always protective of Ann, and as her best friend, I got to see a side of Gray that few other people knew.  
"You could say that," he said. "They'll be at it for hours."  
"At what?" I asked warily, not really sure I wanted to know.  
He gestured to the pasture. "Take a look."  
I did. Ann and Cliff were standing out there, shouting at each other and hurling things. I watched for a moment, then picked up the brush and chucked it back. They didn't even notice. "Is this normal?" I asked.  
Gray shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Normal for them, I guess." He started for his shack. "Come on. I'll get you the eggs and make sure your head is okay."  
He made me a cup of tea, put the eggs in a carton, and parted my hair to look at the side of my head where the brush had hit me. I figured I'd have a bruise, but no concussion, which was good. I was sipping my tea and starting to think about going to see Jack when Gray said, "I have a question."  
"Shoot."  
He looked down into his cup. "How...how do you get a girl to like you?"  
What, just because I had a boyfriend I was now the Advice Person? First Ann, then Gray. The whole family seemed to want my input. If Rick ever got interested in girls, I was gonna lock my door and hibernate. "Any girl in particular," I asked.  
I couldn't see his face under the hat, but I would've bet my wine racks he was blushing. "Popuri," he muttered finally.  
Whoa. Bubble saccharine chick. Last person I would've thought of for the strong, silent type like Gray--I would've figured on Maria or someone--but for all I knew, her sweet energy was why he liked her.  
"Umm, okay." I was thinking...well, no, I was winging it. "She likes flowers. A lot." It was almost disturbing sometimes. You have to worry about someone who spends her free time watering a sidewalk. "So...you should buy some flowers. Maybe one snowy day when she's in the shop? You'll have to ask. They usually don't have much stock left by the end of planting season, and what packages of seeds they do have are kept in storage. Get her to get it out for you. You can talk to her some then. And plant them on the ranch in the Spring." What else? "Oh, yeah, she likes it if you're nice to Lillia."  
"Thanks," he said.  
"Any time," I replied, picking up the eggs. "See you later."  
Ann and Cliff were still arguing when I left. I headed for the farm. I really needed to see someone normal.  
  
The morning of Winter 27th was normal, actually. It was a cold, clear day, one of those mornings where the sky seems a million miles away and no matter what you're doing, you feel like you're being too loud.  
It's the kind of day where you want to wander aimlessly, which was pretty much what I was doing in the vineyard that day, wandering among the grapevines. Wondering abstractedly if it was going to snow later in the day.  
His footsteps startled me at first--everything makes you jump on a silent winter day, and even more so at night. But then I turned around and saw the smile first thing, so I realized pretty quickly it was Jack.  
"Hey, Karen," he called.  
"Hey, Jack," I replied, coming toward him. "How are you?"  
"I feel good." He gave me a hug. "How are you doing? You look great today."  
I'd been out in the snow for a while and my hair was probably a wreck, but he said it with sincerity and it made me feel better. "Thanks. Just another day, I guess."  
"Actually, tonight is the Spirit Festival. The mayor sent me around to talk to the people I want to help me drive away the spirits. I was wondering if you'd dance," he asked.  
"Sure!" I agreed.  
"And...who else should I ask, do you think? I already know I want Cliff to back me up on the ocarina, but we need someone singing."  
I thought. "Well, Ann mostly plays the flute. Popuri's a decent singer, but the best one of us might be Maria. And I don't remember her ever getting to drive away the spirits before anyway. See, Ann and I took on this project to try to get her to be more outgoing..." I explained about our project, finishing with, "...I bet she'd love it if you asked her."  
He nodded. "All right. Thanks. I'll see you tonight!"  
  
I made my way down to the square at six-thirty, dragging Kai with me. My parents were coming later. We thought we were the first people there until we heard annoyed muttering coming from the corner and were greeted with some kind of demon in overalls and an upside-down mask. The mayor and I eventually got the mask to look right and sit so Jack could play the ocarina, and he and I took our places at the center of the square while everyone came in.  
Cliff joined us, carrying a blue clay ocarina ("Gray lent it to me," he mouthed), and he and I were wondering who else was going to play when Maria walked shyly up to join us. I looked at Jack, who smiled and gave me a thumbs-up sign. Maria was smiling, and she looked so happy. I noticed Harris was watching her, and then Ann gave me a glance that dragged my eyes over to him. So she'd noticed it too. That would bear watching.  
When the crowd was silent, Jack started the first low note on the ocarina. I started to move, slowly, spinning and trying to make myself look like a leaf falling in the wind. Cliff and Maria came in together, his deep, full pitch contrasting with her higher one. I whirled around, my face to the sky. It seemed almost like we were glowing.  
Finally, it was over. Everyone was cheering. Kai in the front was shouting, and even my parents were smiling. Ann jumped up and down, yelling our names. Even Maria smiled, her eyes shining. They'd no sooner quieted down than the mayor made them all cheer again, and I felt like we'd never see evil spirits again.  
  
I woke up late the Sunday after the wedding. The sun was already high in the sky. I bolted. My father was going to kill me. I set a land-speed record getting dressed and hurtling downstairs. I was halfway down when I realized what day it was. Winter 29th. My birthday.  
My parents and Kai were sitting downstairs, and I could smell Veryberry tea. "I'm sorry I--" No one looked up. "I said, I'm sorry I woke up late!" I tried again a little louder.  
"It's all right, dear," my mother said absently, reaching for the sugar. Dad grunted behind the newspaper. Kai was studiously avoiding my glance.  
"I'm going out now, okay?" I asked.  
"Fine," Mom said.  
Right. No 'happy birthday,' no 'go get yourself a cake,' no 'you're getting to be so grown up.' They didn't even offer me tea. I stalked out. At least there were some people who'd appreciate me more than my own family. And I was feeling a little better about saying no to Kai, too--come on, who wants a guy who can't even remember your birthday?  
"Oh, shoot!" Ann smacked her forehead. "Is it your birthday? I'm sorry, with the wedding and getting Cliff all moved in and everything, it totally slipped my mind. We'll hang out together tomorrow night, okay?"  
"Your birthday?" Cliff asked when I cornered him. "Karen, I've been wandering across the world for years. You expect me to remember my cousin's birthday? I was worried about not getting killed."  
I tried Jack's farm a couple times, but he was either hiding or doing a pretty good job of avoiding the place. Even Duke was nowhere to be found. And nobody--not the mailman, not even one of the girls, not the Mayor--remembered my birthday. By six o'clock, I was ready to snap.  
I ran into Jack at the crossroads. "Oh, hey, Karen," he greeted me. "What's up?"  
"I'll tell you what's up," I snapped. "Today is my birthday, and no one--not my parents, not my cousin, not my best friend, no one--remembered."  
"It's your birthday?" He blinked. "Oh, damn! Why didn't you tell me? I was gonna take you to dinner or something."  
"No, forget about it. Everyone else has." I stalked off toward the vineyard.  
He caught up with me. "Hey! Hey, I left something in the bar last night. I asked around today, but no one found it. Is there anyway you could get in?"  
"Bar's closed. Go tomorrow." I shrugged and kept walking.  
"I can't. It's one of my tools, and tomorrow is the last day of Winter. I really need it tonight."  
I sighed. "Duke's gonna kill me if he hears about this."  
"Please, Karen? I swear it'll only take a second to look." He was doing the puppy-dog face. I hate the puppy-dog face.  
"All right!" I doubled back and headed for town, still smoldering. "But you're gonna be in and out in two minutes, and unless you want to get me fired, you tell no one I let you in, you got it? And stay away from the bar."  
I fumbled in my pocket for the keys, found the right one, and unlocked the door. "Fast," I hissed, and stepped aside so he could get in while I groped on the wall for the light switch.  
"Surprise!" a chorus of voices shouted.  
I blinked around the bar. There was Ann, Kai, Cliff, my parents, the other girls...all looking at me? There were balloons bobbing around the ceiling, the bar was obviously open, and the tables were stacked high with presents and a cake.  
Jack grinned. "Sorry, Karen. It was the only way I could think of to get you here."  
"I should've known better than to think that you guys would really forget my birthday," I told them. "I mean, I could see Cliff forgetting it--" Cliff stuck his tongue out at me "--but not all of you."  
Ann pushed me toward the table with the cake, and everyone started singing. As the last note rang out, Elli, Popuri, and Ann struck a well-rehearsed chord. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and blew the candles out slowly, wishing.  
A cheer went up, and then Elli started slicing and serving the cake. Duke already had the wine flowing, and for once he insisted that I sit down and let him serve it. We were up partying half the night, and I remember thinking that it turned out to be a pretty good birthday after all. 


	20. The Sapfest You've All Been Waiting For

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 19: The Sapfest You've All Been Waiting For  
  
**********  
  
And if I thought my birthday was good, the next night had to be even better. The town kinda splits up on New Year's Eve. The Mayor and his wife head up the ceremonies at the church, and most of the people who are musically--or religiously--inclined go there, too. The rest of us go to the bar. It's a pretty personal choice, and occasionally one of the bar regulars will go down to church one year or vice versa, just to see what it's like. For the most part, though, you're at the same place every year.  
Obviously, I'm one of the bar set, and I was there early. I worked for an hour with Duke, getting everything set up, and sat down once the regulars started coming in. Kai always gets there first, sliding with anticipation into his regular seat. Ann always shows too. I never quite figured that one out--she's really good on the flute, and she's one of those people who's always so happy about life that she has no real need to drink. Eventually I figured she did it to hang out with me and gave up digging any deeper than that. Gray always comes too, mumbling that he has to watch Ann to make sure she doesn't "party too hardy." Like most of our regulars, though, he starts drinking and he loosens up pretty fast. Cliff was there this year too, chatting with Kent and Stu. This was the first year they came in, and they were the last people I expected to see. Duke just took it in stride, smiling and giving them grape juice, and they were happy.  
Me, I was watching the door. I talked to everyone, and I spent a lot of time chatting with Kai at the corner table, but there was one person I was looking for, and I didn't know if he'd be there or not.  
He was, which I probably should have figured on. He was the last one to come in. Jack was the only regular without a regular seat--he moved around every time he came in depending on who was there and who he wanted to talk to. Sometimes he didn't even bother sitting, but followed me around for an hour or two, maybe just to prove he could stay on his feet that long. Tonight he came in, saw me at the corner table, and dragged a stool from the bar over next to me.  
I did a little work, but Duke and I had planned the night out smooth beforehand, and the bar was set up perfectly. Mostly we drank and talked and wished each other good luck in the New Year. The Mayor, who was next door at the church watching the ceremonies there, dropped in to leave a retrospective Maria had written about the ten most memorable things that had happened that year, and we all took turns getting up and reading from it. Jack made the list, the vineyard made the list, Ann and Cliff made the list.  
Everyone was dropping in and out of the bar, cheering. After a couple drinks, Ann got everyone to sing Auld Lang Syne. It shouldn't have been as funny as it was, but hey, we were all drunk and content by that time.  
Around eleven forty-five, we all started watching the clock at the back of the room. By the last minute, everyone was chanting, "fifty-five, fifty-four..." Finally we got down to "three...two...one..." and then the church bells started ringing. "Happy New Year!" the whole town shouted in unison, and Stu and Kent hopped up on the table and started dancing. Eventually we were all dancing, and Kai and I even managed to drag Duke out from behind the bar for a few minutes to dance with us.  
We partied like that for an hour, and at one the entire village streamed out of the bar and the church to dance in the square. Then we all went back inside for more drinks, and then... well, you get the idea. It was a crazy night. It was a great night. Everyone was happy and singing and having the most fun I could ever remember having.  
The party was still in full swing at five AM, when Jack sighed and stood up. "It's almost sunrise. I'd better get going. Happy New Year, everyone!"  
"Happy New Year!" we all yelled back.  
The door closed behind him. I stood there, looking at it, unsure of what to do.  
Kai's eyes met mine, and I saw the same look he'd had when I'd told him I couldn't marry him.  
"Go after him, Karen," he said quietly.  
I nodded once, felt the pressure of his hand on my shoulder for an instant, and then I was running.  
  
"Jack!" I burst out the door behind him.  
He turned, smiling. "I was hoping you'd come."  
"I'm going to go watch the sun rise on New Year's Day...would you come with me?"  
"I'd love to," he answered, his fingers slipping into mine. We started toward Moon Mountain.  
"I can't believe it's really been a whole year," Jack said. "It seems like everything's been happening so fast."  
"So what do you think?" I asked. "The farm--do you like what you're doing?"  
There was no hesitation. "Yes. It was hard at first, but I've kind of figured out the rhythm, the way things are supposed to go. And I love it. I love the the plantings, the harvests, the animals, the people I've met..."  
"You're father's coming in a year," I reminded him.  
"I know." He was looking straight ahead, out at the mountain. "I think about that every day. And--I think he'll be proud of me. I think Grandpa would be proud of me."  
"So..." I looked at him. "Is this what you want to do the rest of your life?"  
There was a moment of silence, and then he said, "I never thought about it before, but... yes. This is what I want to spend my life doing."  
I nodded slowly, and he asked, "What about you? You still want to get away from here on the next ferry?"  
I shook my head. "I just realized it the other day. Since the vineyard's been revived, I feel like I'm doing something. Heaven's Gate is back. This was Grandma's dream. Dad's starting to yell less, Mom's starting to smile more...things are finally working themselves out. This last year...I couldn't leave anymore. There's too much here for me now."  
We were halfway up the mountain. "That's what you want to do, then?" he asked.  
"I think so. Harvesting's in my blood, I guess."  
"Mine, too," he grinned, and I found myself grinning back.  
"Oh, good." I breathed a sigh of relief as we neared the summit. "We made it in time. The first sun of the new year is rising."  
We reached the top of Moon Mountain and sat on the cold earth, waiting for spring to begin.  
The first edges of dawn began to shade over the horizon. The pine trees, spreading out before us like an ocean, began to glisten in the slivers of light. As the sun broke, the snow would start to melt.  
With a final burst, the sun hung fully over the mountains, warm and golden and beautiful.  
"...I..." I whispered. The words were on the edge of my tongue. I could almost taste them. Only three words, three words that wouldn't come. "I..."  
"I love you?" he whispered back. It was not a question.  
I felt my face grow hot. Daaamn. "Well...you know..." I began. "Thank you."  
"For what?" he asked quietly.  
"For everything. For what you've done for me, what you've done for my family, what you've done for our vineyard...you got here, Jack, and the whole place changed! Everyone's smiling more, working harder. I don't think you realize it, but you were the one who brought everyone back." I realized how animated I was. I'd never even consciously had these thoughts before, but I heard myself saying them and I knew they were true.  
He was looking at me. "You were the only reason I stayed."  
"What?"  
"Sometimes it was just so frustrating! I'd be squatting up to my ears in turnips, desperately trying to get them all harvested by the end of the season, and I'd have three cows and a couple of sheep making a total racket out in the back forty, and I was about ready to hurl a pitchfork through the Mayor's hat and say, 'screw it.'"  
"So why didn't you?" I wanted to know.  
He grinned. "Because I remembered that you told me I'd never make it. At first it was about proving to you and my dad and everyone else that I was strong enough to be able to run a farm. And then...I realized that I couldn't leave you. And I started to love the farm, and then I couldn't leave."  
I took his hand, and we sat in silence for a while, looking out toward the brilliant spring sun.  
After a few minutes, he continued. "Living in the city...I don't know. There was nothing to care about, nothing to work for. After my mother died...there was nothing left for me there. I could never do the kind of work my dad does, nine to five behind a desk.  
"Back there, I was more shallow. You saw me that first day, and I know now what I must've looked like to you, wearing a pair of designer overalls. But I got dumped here and I had to learn to fend for myself--cook, clean, take care of crops and livestock...I grew up fast. And--this is gonna sound really clichéd, but--I think I learned a lot about what's really important to me."  
"What?" I asked.  
"The farm. Working toward Grandpa's dream...for the first time, I really feel like I'm doing something! Just like you and the vineyard. I have more respect for myself now. That feeling of working hard is important to me. And there's one other thing."  
"And that is...?"  
He looked at me. "When I was five years old, I spent a summer on my grandfather's farm. I wandered around a lot, and somehow I found my way into a wine cellar in a vineyard." He paused a moment, and something flashed in my head. "There was a girl in there, crying because she was too afraid to go home. So we held hands and went home together.  
"She gave me a music box and told me to come back and give it back to her someday. I buried it on the farm, promising myself that someday I'd return it to her. Fifteen years passed, and I didn't come back, but I never forgot the promise I made her--to come back to her someday."  
He smiled. "I kept our promise, Karen."  
"I know," I murmured.  
"There's another promise I want to make you, too," he said.  
Time seemed to stop as he raised his arms above our heads.  
"KAAAAAAAAAREN!" Someone bellowed behind me. I was in such a daze, it took me a minute to register the voice as Ann's.  
She came into view a few seconds later, barely out of breath although she must've run the whole way up the mountain. "Whaddaya doing? C'mon, it's New Year's! The whole town's standing in the square like a buncha morons, waiting for you two!"  
Damn!  
We looked at each other, knowing the moment was broken. There is no way you can have a romantic moment when your best friend's breathing down your neck shrieking at you to get downtown so everyone can get drunk.  
Jack sighed and stood up, grabbing my hand to pull me up. "Let's go." 


	21. Blue Feather Blues

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 20: Blue Feather Blues  
  
**********  
  
I love the New Year's Festival. The last two days of Winter and the first day of Spring are the three best days of the year. Ann gets mad at me when I say that. And I'm not gonna lie; I feel kinda guilty that I'm happiest when I'm drinking. But let's face it: when you live on a tiny vineyard outside a tiny town on a tiny island with four TV channels and no phones or computers, there's not much to do except drink. And I was kinda brought up with it.  
The way the New Year's Festival works is this: everyone gets together in the square and wanders around with tall glass mugs, the kind we serve beer in at the bar. You go around and greet people and wish them a happy new year. Every time you greet someone, you drink. Read: you drink the entire mug. And then you fill up and do it again. The last one conscious is the winner.  
I always say hi to the pushovers first. I've known Maria all my life, and in that time I don't think she's stepped foot in the bar once. People like Elli and Rick are pretty easy to beat, too. Lillia and the Mayor's wife, the type who have a glass of wine occasionally, are only marginally tougher. Then you have people like Harris and Jeff, who are regulars in the bar and can hold themselves together pretty well. Ann can stand a couple mugs, but I usually try to be careful with her, because her brother gets really mad when she gets drunk.  
My parents don't usually bother coming, so for the past five years it's come down to a standoff between me and Kai. I only lost once--his first year, when I was younger and the novelty of working at a vineyard hadn't worn off yet for him and he was drinking like there was no tomorrow.  
This year was no different, except that we had Cliff and Jack to deal with. Cliff came in occasionally, and he had a great poker face, so he took me a couple of tries. Jack, who came in practically every night, managed to work his way through everyone else and finally came down to a six-drink standoff with Kai. It eventually ended with both of them passing out simultaneously, and since no one could remember who hit the ground first, we called it a tie and took them both home. I was declared the victor, as usual.  
  
I had a killer hangover the next day, of course. Kai and I both spent Spring 2nd in bed, while my mother fussed over us and made us tea. Gradually my headache faded and my face wasn't flushed anymore, so the next day I declared myself cured and went down to the beach.  
The weather was already warming up, and the cherry blossoms were floating in a pink haze down from the square. For a moment my thoughts drifted back to a wake a year earlier, and a slumped form in a baseball cap dragging toward the farm. And beyond that, a woman with long blonde hair, who had danced and laughed and shaped the vineyard and my dreams, a woman who I had seen only once but would always remember.  
I started to dance.  
I threw myself into it totally, dancing in the wind like the cherry blossoms.  
When I stopped, I was aware of someone watching me and turned to see Jack, standing silently on the path to the ranch.  
"Oh..." I said. We hadn't had a chance to talk since Moon Mountain.  
"That was amazing," he said, coming slowly toward me.  
I barely heard myself say "thank you." For the hundredth time, Kai's words rang through my head: "go after him."  
"Jack?" I asked. "I have something to ask you."  
He stopped enthusing about my dancing skills and grew more serious. "Yes?"  
I took a deep breath. "Do you like me?"  
He laughed and rubbed the back of his head through his baseball cap. "Karen, I've liked you since we were five years old."  
I looked into his eyes. "Then...bring me a blue feather."  
"What?" He looked like he was having it trouble taking it in. "You...you want to marry me?"  
I glanced away, feeling my face grow hot. "What? Me? I thought you knew already."  
He moved closer and took my hand, forcing me to look at him. "I have something to ask you as well."  
My heart stuck halfway through a beat. "Yes?"  
"Our promise...Karen, I love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you." As if in a dream, his arms came up again, and then the shining fragments of blue were raining down on me. "Will you marry me?" he asked.  
"Huh?" I blurted out without thinking. "Are you serious?" He nodded. "What should I do?" I saw the sudden shift in his eyes to nervousness and doubt.  
"Of course YES!" I cried. "Silly!"  
We both laughed at the same time, and then we were kissing. The shards of blue and cherry blossoms drifted down toward the sea, and I felt a kind of warmth that was greater than anything I'd ever been able to get from a bottle. It was the feeling I'd had as a five-year-old, the feeling I'd caught flashes of inside the wine cellar and in his arms when he carried me home when I fell and on a rainy day when he'd given me the music box, the feeling that I had, totally raw and full, on the night we'd danced with the Kifu fairies and never understood until I'd told it to Kai.  
This was love.  
  
My mom was quiet when I told her that night, but I could see her eyes lighting up. "Oh, Karen, that's wonderful," she said. "I'm so happy for you."  
I looked at her. "Really? I mean, after everything you've been through with Dad, you don't think I'm making a mistake?"  
"Honey, is that really what you think?" She reached out to stroke my hair. "Listen to me. Marrying your father was never a mistake."  
"But he yells all the time, and he's such a jerk sometimes!" I burst out.  
"But he loves you, Karen," she said quietly. "I don't know if you realize that. Yes, he does yell too much sometimes, but he cares about you and he worries that he hasn't made that clear to you." I leaned back against her while her fingers worked the tangles out of my hair, feeling like a little girl again. "I can't tell you that there will never be rough times--Lord knows Lillia understands that, with her husband gone half the year-and I don't believe that 90% of a woman's happiness depends on finding a man like the Mayor's wife does. I believe that you make your own happiness in life, and maybe...lately...I've lost sight of that. But he loves you, Karen, and I think you'll be happy together."  
Something in the way she'd spoken made me look up at her. "What are you going to do now, Mom?" I asked.  
Mom smiled down at me. "I've been standing in that house far too long. I want to help your father and Kai more out there. And...I want to dance again. I could teach or even perform once in a while to help make ends meet."  
I threw my arms around her. "Mom, that's great! That's your dream!"  
She hugged me back, and for the first time in a while, I realized how beautiful she still was when she smiled. "I know."  
Suddenly I heard footsteps on the stairs, and my father appeared at the end of my room. He just stood there for a moment, looking at me.  
Then he said, "I want you to know that no matter what happens, there will always be a place for you here."  
I nodded. "I know, Dad."  
Slowly, he walked over, and there was something almost shy in his face. "I remember when you were a little girl..."  
"...and we used to dance together..." I filled in, not even thinking about it.  
"And then you grew up, and we didn't dance anymore. And I drank more and yelled more, and I never realized that I was wasting my life. You were the one who saved the vineyard, Karen."  
I shook my head. "No, Dad. It was Jack. He was the one who brought the Kifu fairies back."  
"No." He looked at me hard, his eyes staring straight into mine. "It was you, Karen. You were the one who worked so hard for this vineyard. It was your determination that really brought this place back. And you were the one who made me realize how important it was."  
This was totally out of character for my dad. "Dad..." I began.  
"Let me finish," he ordered, holding up a hand for silence. "I haven't always been a good father to you, and that's something I will always regret. But I love you, even if I haven't shown it."  
He stopped, looking a little embarrassed. "There."  
I stood up, and, unbelievably, I found myself giving him a hug for the first time in years. "I love you too, Dad," I said.  
Then I turned back to smile at them both and went down the stairs to Kai's room.  
  
The light was still on when I knocked. "Come in," Kai called. I stepped inside.  
His room was sparsely decorated; the only furnishings were a bed, a chair, a small table, and a simple chest of drawers. A picture and a single orange sat on top of the chest. As I looked closer, I could see the five boys and the parents. The boys all had the same wide smile. Spots of orange stood out against the green background, and I realized that this was the orange grove.  
"I'm writing to them now," Kai said behind me, and I jumped a little. He was bent over the table, a page and a half already written in his neat round handwriting.  
"It's been five years since you've seen them," I realized.  
He nodded. "Yep. I left for the city five years ago and never made it past this vineyard."  
"Are you ever going to go back?" I asked.  
He set the pencil down and motioned for me to have a seat on the bed. "I don't know," he sighed eventually. "You know it's a poor town. They need the money I'm sending, and they don't need another mouth to feed. And...I don't know if I'll ever get to the city."  
"Why not?"  
Kai shrugged. "I'm making money here. I guess the same as people like Cliff and Jack, I just found a place here and settled into it. And your parents have been good to me." I half-expected him to say, 'And you wouldn't come with me,' and it hung between us for an instant, but he didn't say anything else.  
I ran my fingers through my hair. "About Jack..."  
"I heard." His face was emotionless, his voice steady. I couldn't tell what he was thinking.  
"I feel like I've been unfair to you."  
"No," he said quickly. "No. I don't ever want you to feel guilty about what happened. I want you to be happy." He smiled, a little sadly, but I could feel the warmth. "People like us, Karen, we're survivors. I can't lie to you: I wish things had turned out differently. But I'll be okay, and I guess the best thing I can do for you is tell you I'll always be here, as your friend."  
I wanted to say something, but the words stuck in my throat. I managed a "thank you" and gave him a fierce hug. He returned it, and somehow I felt a lot better.  
  
"Aaaahhh, Karen, that's great news!" Ann threw her arms around me and gave me a bone-crunching hug. "Come in!" she commanded, dragging me into the house. Cliff sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Whassamatta?" he asked, blinking in the sudden light.  
"Ya moron, your cousin's getting married in two days and you're sitting there like a bump on a log! This is big news!" Ann bellowed.  
"Can't it be big news in the morning?" he asked. Cain, on a perch near the bed, ruffled his feathers in agreement.  
"NO!" she snapped cheerfully. "Now, we gotta plan for this! We need flowers, food, drinks, the works! We can use some of the same decorations, but...ooh, your outfit! Let's see, you have to have an all-new veil and shoes, and...a dress! I'll find the perfect dress! You're gonna be stunning!"  
"I dunno, Ann," I said skeptically. "It seems like a lot of work."  
"Hah-HAH!" Ann cried. She loves planning stuff like this. She LIVES for being the one who knows what to do and, therefore, gets to be in charge. "Not to worry! We'll get this all running perfectly! You'll see!"  
  
Okay, so I could've told you it wouldn't run perfectly, but it was pretty smooth nonetheless. After working on Ann's wedding, the five of us girls were a little better at the routine. Since it was Spring, Popuri had more flowers to choose from, and Elli, Ellen, and Jeff got started the day before on the wedding cake and the rest of the food. My mom was pretty cool about everything too; she and Ann got my dress designed and sewn in record time, and she even had time to go down and help out with the cooking. Dad brought out a bunch of wines I didn't even know he had, and he offered to help serve. Ann and Maria were probably the reason it all came together, though: Ann's raw creativity and energy meshed perfectly with Maria's quiet ability to coordinate things and make them happen. And so everything was ready for the sixth of Spring. 


	22. Wedding Bells

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 21: Wedding Bells  
  
**********  
  
Everyone showed up at my house early that morning. Mom finished the dress just in time, and it was gorgeous, short and elegant with a matching veil. Ann was charging around, managing things, with Maria and Mom trailing in her wake clarifying them, and the whirlwind activity was not doing anything to stop the butterflies having a grape-stomping party in the pit of my stomach. Cliff was just making it worse, running back and forth to tell me what Jack was doing at that moment. Ann gave him a nice uppercut to the jaw, but he just grinned and went back out.  
I got dressed, looked at myself in the mirror. "I can't do this," I informed anyone who was listening.  
"Yes, you can!" Ann told me. "Now, come on. Everything's ready. The wedding starts in half an hour!"  
I looked around the room at her, my mom, and the rest of the girls in the town. "Can you guys go ahead?" I asked. "I...just need to be alone for a couple minutes. I'll be down soon." Ann sighed and motioned everyone out. The door closed behind them.  
I took a deep breath and sighed, trying to calm myself. Then I took a long look around. My bed, my stuff, my room...my life...this was the last time I'd ever live there. This was the last, irreversible step into adulthood.  
I was ready.  
I raised my eyes straight in front of me, willing myself not to look back. I left and locked the door behind me for the last time.  
Then I went slowly downstairs and out of the house, and made my way to the village.  
  
As soon as I set foot in the town, I was mobbed and propelled toward the bakery, where it appeared that my camp was located. Or something. That's what I was guessing, because it seemed like all the women in town were there, fussing over me. Through the window I caught a glance of the guys over by the tool shop, presumably surrounding Jack. In the middle of the whole thing was the pastor, shaking his head and smiling, the picture of serenity. Nice to know someone was calm about the whole thing.  
"Come on!" Ann went through the crowd. "Okay, Popuri, Maria, you guys are going to sing, okay? Annnnd...Elli, you have a flute? Yes, no, maybe? All right, then, use mine. No, I can't play it, I'm in the wedding party! I can't work like this...Lillia, what happened to the bouquets? They're still there? Okay, someone run and get them. Now--Cliff, go away, can't you see we're working here?! Does anyone play the violin or anything? Someone go learn! Oh, good, here's May--where are her flowers?!" And so on like that until the church bells started to peal.  
Ann froze. "Eagggh, it's time!" Maria patted her on the arm and scanned the neat rows.  
"Right," she said, pushing her glasses up and straightening her dress. "Elli, Popuri, we'll go in first, and we're going to stand with Harris, Jeff, and Gray and start the music. I'll give you the cues on the organ so you know when to play. The rest of you file in one by one and take your seats. Then Ann, May, Ms. Sasha, you find the others in the wedding party and take your places, then Jack will come in, and finally Karen, you and your father. Then the pastor will speak, and we'll sing, and then the wedding party will line up outside and we'll have the processional." She smiled at me encouragingly. "It's all right, Karen, don't be so nervous." Then she brushed up to the door with the other musicians. "Now, let's go."  
The three of them passed me and walked slowly outside, Maria making sure they were perfectly in step. In a few moments, I heard the music start, and then the Mayor's wife began to move. Behind her came the midwife and then Lillia, carefully helping Ellen toward the church.  
My mother embraced me wordlessly and kissed my forehead. Then she left, clasping May's hand tightly. Ann looked at me.  
"Good luck!" she whispered, squeezing my hand, and then she, too, was gone.  
"Well, Karen, time to swing," I muttered to myself, and started walking.  
  
My father was waiting outside. "Time to go," he said, and extended his arm. I took it, and together we started walking.  
As the wooden door swung open, I saw Maria catch Elli's eye, and she began to play the wedding march. The pews were filled with the entire town. At the front of the church stood my mother, the three children, Cliff, Ann, and Kai. And there, in the center of it all, was Jack, smiling at me, looking handsome in a pristine white suit. He still had the baseball cap on.  
I floated down the aisle, felt my father's arm leave mine as he took his place behind us. And then the pastor's voice--I never heard the words, only the voice, calm and smooth and warm, as he spoke. I heard him stop speaking, and then Maria started again at the organ and everyone was singing. Kai was watching me from the back, his voice rising stronger than all the others, and then he smiled. And in front of me stood Jack. Our eyes met, and I saw the corner of his mouth quirk up in a small grin. I smiled back.  
We stood like that, the song echoing all around us, for a long time. And then the rest of the wedding party filed out, slowly, still singing. When my parents, the final two, were out the door, he took my hand and we started slowly out.  
Outside the door, we stopped, and Pastor Brown stood between us.  
"Jack," he began, "do you take Karen to be your lawful wedded wife?"  
"I do," Jack said, his eyes locked on mine.  
"And do you, Karen, take Jack to be your lawful wedded husband?"  
"I do," I said, feeling the rhythm of our heartbeats and his hands in mine.  
"Then I now pronounce you man and wife."  
We turned, slowly, and walked to the end of the line, everyone singing quietly. Then I turned back to Jack.  
He was still smiling, his eyes shining quietly.  
Slowly, I leaned forward and felt the pressure of his lips on mine.  
Everyone cheered.  
  
We ran up the stairs to the square, where the wine was already flowing. The presents were piled high on a table to one side--a full wine rack from my parents, two chickens and a knitted blanket from Ann, a beautifully crafted baby cradle from Cliff and the carpenters, fresh oranges from Kai.  
The cake was delicious, three layers of strawberry perfection. The music was great, too, and the entire town was up well past midnight dancing. Ann didn't have to force Gray to dance this time--"Maybe next time he'll do it on his own without me prompting him," she muttered to me--and he and Popuri surprised us all with an incredible reel.  
The sky was pitch black by the time everyone finally gathered at the edge of the square to wish us well. Jack went down one set of stairs; I crossed down the other. We met in the center, clasped our hands again, and held them above our heads. A huge cheer went up, and rice rained down on us as we left the town behind.  
We walked through the crossroads alone together, still holding hands. And then we were at the gates of the farm, and in the moonlight I could see our fields, and our dog curled up under the shelter of his doghouse, and there was our house.  
"I love you," Jack whispered.  
The door closed. 


	23. Domestication or Not

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 22: Domestication (or Not)  
  
**********  
  
I was still jazzed waking up the next morning, the first rays of sunlight slicing in from the window to fall across Jack's face. He opened his eyes and smiled.  
"Good morning, Jack," I said softly. "Or should I say 'dear'?"  
"I like the way that sounds," he teased, throwing off the covers and getting dressed.  
"No honeymoon, huh?" I asked.  
He sighed. "Guess not. It's too early to harvest anything, but I have to water the crops and take care of the animals. And I have to get to Moon Mountain today too. I'm trying to stock the fridge with Veryberries. After that, I think I'm free. And if you can handle dinner tonight, I'll do it tomorrow night."  
Whoa. Total freeze in the whole wedded bliss thing. "Ummm, Jack?" I almost squeaked. "I kinda have a problem with that."  
He looked at me. "I know. I don't like it either. Well, I should have enough money for a greenhouse later in the season, so I can probably blow off the watering, but I have to at least get the animals fed."  
"No, it's not that. The problem is...Jack, I can't cook," I said.  
He started to laugh, but stopped when he saw my face. "Sorry. I was just worried it was going to be something tougher, like a major objection to my doing farmwork. Okay, scratch what I said about dinner. We'll work on the cooking lessons at night instead."  
I looked at him. "You'd do that? My dad just went out for dinner whenever my mom couldn't cook."  
He shrugged. "Sure, no problem. I'd been doing most of the cooking back in the city since my mom died, and here I've been doing all of it. I'm not a master chef, and I probably couldn't whip Elli and Jeff in a bake- off, but I've collected a bunch of recipes and they're not too hard to follow."  
"Thanks a lot." I got an idea. "And in return, I'll give you dance lessons!"  
"Really? So I don't look like a moron at festivals anymore?"  
"I never thought you looked like a moron," I said loyally. Actually, it wasn't too far from the truth. He'd been able to wing it okay from the start; the problem was that he was too self-conscious.  
"Yeah, but my problem is feeling like a moron. Still, I'd appreciate the help." He dug his gloves out of the pockets of his overalls and put them on. "Did you happen to notice where my hat landed last night?"  
I shrugged. "Probably across the room somewhere. You really thought I was gonna let you sleep with that thing on?"  
"Sleeping wasn't the problem--ah! Found it." He put it on and straightened it. "Okay, then, I'm off. Any idea what you're going to be doing today?"  
"Hmm...probably drop by the vineyard and maybe the ranch, then—any idea what we're going to start with for dinner tonight?" I asked.  
He thought for a moment. "I've got a recipe for some simple tomato soup, and I think Cliff can do something with eggs. We'll start with that."  
"Okay, then, I'll go into town and see if Lillia has any tomatoes in her greenhouse. And when I finish the shopping, I might go down to the beach for a while."  
"All right. I'll catch you there when I get the work around here done. Maybe do a little fishing." He brushed a kiss on my forehead, then picked up his rucksack and started for the door. "See you in a few hours, darling."  
How cute. I got up and blinked around for a couple seconds before realizing that most of my stuff was still in boxes in the corner of the room. All right, fine. That was first. I got dressed, got most of my stuff put away in the room organizer, and tried to run my fingers through my tangled hair for a few minutes before giving up and heading out.  
  
The whole thing was strangely surreal. I'd been here, in this yard, outside my old home, just yesterday. Not even twenty-four hours ago it had been home, and I wasn't sure whether it seemed like just yesterday or a thousand years ago. Certainly something had shifted--it was quieter. Mom and Dad greeted me as if they hadn't seen me in years, and Kai called me Miss Karen once again before blinking and correcting himself. There were a few things left to get from my room, but that would keep until another day. I couldn't bring myself to unlock the door again now.  
Instead, I kept moving, heading for the ranch. I could hear shouts coming from the back pasture--Ann and Cliff fighting again, of course.  
A hunk of grass uprooted itself and sailed overhead, landing and exploding directly on Cliff's head. Score one for the redhead.  
"Ugh, you're almost as annoying as my brother!" Ann was belting when I came around.  
"Hey, Cliff?" I hollered over the din of fighting and animals. "I just wanted to know if you had any egg recipes for dinner!" He wasn't listening to me. "Hello?" I yelled. "Hey, you!"  
"Give it up, Karen," Gray said behind me. "They'll go on like this for hours."  
"Fine. Do YOU know any good egg recipes?" I asked.  
"One. Paper?" I handed him a piece and he scrawled something out. I squinted to make it out. Okay, I could just barely read it, but only because I'd had practice. Yep. It was the legendary omelet recipe. Poor guy probably just felt sorry for Jack.  
"Hi, Karen!" Ann called cheerfully. She hopped up on the fence. Cliff collapsed on his back, breathing hard. I didn't think this was the most brilliant thing to do in a cow pasture, but hey, he was the one who'd have to do the laundry. "How's married life?"  
"How should I know? I've been married for, what, eighteen hours?" I shrugged. "I like it. I'm gonna learn how to cook."  
"Oh, good. I was wondering how long he'd make it on your grapes/raw- veggies/whatever's-growing-by-the-river-when-you-get-down-there diet," she said agreeably. "Want to learn to knit, too?"  
"Maybe some other time," I told her. "Don't want to get too domesticated, y'know?"  
She laughed. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Where you headed?"  
"Town. Gotta pick up some tomatoes and then hit the beach."  
"Sounds cool. Take care of yourself, okay?"  
"Sure thing." I headed into town, bought a few pounds of tomatoes from Lillia. I munched one raw for lunch and took the rest back to the farm to put in the fridge. Then I set out again for the beach.  
I was waiting for only a couple minutes, watching the surf and studying a crab when Jack arrived. "Hi, Karen," he said, plunking down beside me. "You ever fish?"  
I nodded. "Sure, sometimes. Fishing, climbing trees, riding horses and swimming are the four things all of us around here learn to do about as soon as we can walk."  
"Good." He pulled a rod, some bait, and a box of tackle out of his rucksack and got them set up. "I figured we'd do the eggs-tomato soup thing tonight and work on frying fish tomorrow, if we can catch any."  
We passed the rod back and forth for a while, just talking. We caught some things--the tiny blue ones we threw back, but Jack got a couple nice- sized orange trout, and I managed to haul in a huge silvery blue fish. Around six it started to get dark, and we packed up and headed for home.  
"Okay," Jack said, getting pots and pans set up. "Here's what we're going to do. You take an egg, crack it on the edge of the pot like so--" he demonstrated, "--and pour it into the bowl. Then you take this thing--it's called a whisk--and you beat the egg, and then you pour it into the pan." It poured in, nice and smooth and yellow. "Like that. Okay, your turn." And so on until we had the eggs scrambled and cooked and the soup all made up. We sat down, I lit the candles to celebrate, and we ate. It actually turned out pretty good, and I started thinking, maybe I can do this after all.  
After dinner, we did the dishes--I washed, he dried--and then went back into the bedroom for the dance lesson. Jack pushed the rug and the table to the side wall, and I started showing him basic steps. I began with the traditional festival dance, the one we'd been able to wing twice but never gotten perfectly.  
We worked for an hour, and by that time we were both pretty tired. As we got into bed, he said, "I like it. It's fun" and I found myself grinning. 


	24. Maybe, Baby

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 23: Maybe, Baby  
  
**********  
  
The next day Jack got up and went outside, and I decided to start the laundry. A few minutes later he came in, tossed a piece of paper on the table, and flopped into a chair, looking like a storm cloud.  
"What's up, Jack?" I asked.  
He demanded, "Read it!"  
I looked for a place to set the clothes down, finally gave up and piled them on the floor, and picked up the letter.  
It read: "Jack: Congratulations on your wedding. Dad."  
"His only son gets married and he sends me a postcard." His voice was bitter. "One line! Not even, 'I hope you'll be happy,' or 'I'll come to see you sometime' or 'I'm sorry I couldn't make it.' Nothing!"  
"You're going to see him in a year," I told him, setting the letter back down on the table and coming over to him.  
"That's right." He nodded savagely. "He figures he's going to come out here in a year and drag me home like a little kid."  
"So don't let him." He didn't say anything, so I continued. "You told me before that this is where you want to spend the rest of your life! You have to save this farm. Wasn't that what your grandfather wanted?"  
His shoulders slumped. "I don't know what my grandfather wanted!" He put his head in his hands, his eyes staring out, hollow, between his fingers. "When he died...I was there, at his bedside. He tried to reach out for my hand, but he was too weak...and he said something, and I knew that it was something important, but I...just couldn't understand him..." He broke off. "Then he just...stopped breathing and let go. And I never knew what his last words were..."  
There was nothing I could say. I put my arms around him and we stayed like that for a few minutes.  
When I could speak again, I said, "They said at the wake that he left you the farm in his will." He nodded, slowly. "You. He didn't want to sell it or leave it to your father. He gave you this farm because he wanted you to bring it back. Do it for him."  
He stood up. "Yeah. I'll do it for him--and to prove to my father that I'm actually worth something."  
He squeezed my hand and went back out. From the window I could see him in the field, bent over with the hammer, the chips of stone flying. I smiled and picked up the laundry again.  
  
And so the days started to fall into a pattern. We'd wake up and start work--Jack in the fields and the barn, me at the vineyard or running errands around town. Around the end of Spring, we had enough saved to spring for a greenhouse and still have a pretty decent amount of cash left, and after that it got easier to find things to cook with. We had a different kind of vegetable every day, always fresh. After work, we'd meet, sometimes at home, sometimes at the beach or the mountain, and then we'd go home to cook dinner. After eating, we might go to the ranch or my parents' house, and then we'd have our dance lesson before going to sleep.  
I still waited tables at the bar a few nights a week to make ends meet, but I started to watch Jack do the farm work more often, and after a few days I figured out what I could do to help out. So I crated and shipped the eggs every morning. Occasionally I'd drop one...okay, or two, and once I fell flat on my face and lost all of them, but I got better fast. I was voted the Goddess of the Spring that year, and it was the best Flower Festival ever. I felt a little dumb at first, but the dress looked beautiful and the skirt spun around me like the petals of a flower when I danced, as I had always known it would. Jack and I danced together, the King and the Goddess, and I remembered what it had been like flying in the balloon with him at the Sowing Festival, just the two of us soaring above the whole world with balloons floating past us. It was the best Spring I'd ever had, and for the first time, I realized I loved life.  
And so life rolled by--if not perfect, definitely pretty close—until the sixth of Summer.  
  
This happened to be the night of the Bamboo Float Festival, which is a special festival just for married couples. The idea is this: you construct a tiny bamboo float, and you wish on it and then set it off down the river. If it stays afloat until it's out of sight, you wish will come true.  
We'd made the boat the day before, and that night, after dark, we made our way down to the river beneath Moon Mountain. On the way, we passed the Mayor and his wife, who were chatting with Lillia and Basil, as well as Ann and Cliff. Cliff appeared to have developed a bruise on his cheek, but he was smiling, his arm around Ann's waist, obviously in love. There are all kinds of marriages, I guess. And I saw my parents leaving the house.  
But by the time we reached the river, we were alone.  
"How do we do this?" Jack wondered.  
"Ummm..." I thought. I'd never done it before either. "Let's hold the boat between us and wish, and then we'll set it down on the water."  
"Might as well try it." He cupped one side of the boat between his hands, and I took the other side.  
"Okay, you first," I told him.  
"All right." He closed his eyes. "I wish...I wish that the farm and the vineyard will be successful...and I wish for a family."  
He nodded at me. I closed my eyes too. "My wish is that we'll stay together for the rest of our lives and have a family..." I motioned for him to bend down. Carefully, we knelt and set the little boat adrift on the river.  
I looked at it as it picked up speed and sailed downstream. "You think it's against the rules if I catch it as it's about to sink?"  
Jack laughed and shook his head. "Definitely not."  
I was about to say something when I felt it. It was practically burning a hole in my stomach. I could feel it so strongly I could taste it.  
"I could kill for some cake," I announced.  
"What?" he asked.  
"It's funny. I just felt this really strong craving for something sweet. I don't think I've ever wanted a pastry this badly in my life."  
He put his arm around my waist and we started home. "Let's go home for now. Tomorrow, Karen, tomorrow we will go put Elli's future children through college."  
  
Jack was out before dawn the next morning, doing the farmwork. I got the eggs--managed to get all six crated without dropping one--and, feeling restless, put in a few hours of work at the vineyard. The work felt pretty good, and it helped take my mind off the desperate desire for something sweet. We both finished up around noon and went into town for lunch.  
"Hello," Jack called as we came into the bakery.  
Elli came around the counter. "Howdy. You guys here for lunch? We have a special today."  
"Actually, I just really felt like something sweet today," I told her.  
Her face lit up, which was a sure sign that there was a new recipe in the works. "That's great! I have just the perfect thing for that!"  
"What?" I asked, a little warily.  
"A brand-new recipe!" Yep. I was the guinea pig here. Elli's philosophy is that anything you bake will taste good if you make it with love. This may well be the case for her, since Ellen and Jeff will smile and burrow their way through whatever sugar-drenched offerings she comes up with. The rest of us, though...we're just lucky most of Elli's experiments turn out well.  
She brought a plate around. "Here. Jeff brought back some tropical fruit when he was down by the river fishing on Monday. So here's my special tropical cake!" I could just hear the little heart floating in the air after her sentence.  
The cookies were orange. I stared at them. They stared back at me, the little round lumps looking ready to get up and walk off at any moment.  
"I haven't got the look worked out yet," Elli explained. "Once I perfect the recipe, I'll shape them, maybe put some food coloring in to change the color."  
My stomach was howling for sugar, and the master chef was standing there expectantly, watching me. Oh, well. Goodbye, cruel world. I picked one up and took a bite.  
Jack and Elli both leaned in to gauge my face. I chewed deliberately for a few moments, then picked up two more and scarfed them down.  
"How are they?" asked Elli.  
"Mmhg! Gmmd!" I enthused.  
"Really?" As a baker, she translated mouth-full-speak pretty well. "You don't think they're too tart?"  
"Not at all!" I'd finished the plate. "Do you have any more?"  
She shook her head. "I only made what I could with one fruit--that's all that grows there in a day. If people like the recipe, we'll plant a tree in the side yard...is there anything else you want?"  
"The cake looks good," I said, still looking for something to shut my sweet tooth up. She brought it; I ate it. Nope. Still there.  
Jack ordered an iced tea and sat to watch me devour a slice of pie, a second piece of cake, and half a bag of honey cookies. The craving was still there; eventually we gave up and left.  
"I don't understand it," I said as we headed back to the farm. "After all that sweet stuff, I still wanted more."  
"I wouldn't worry about it," Jack reassured me. "It's probably normal. Watch it go away in a few days."  
  
But it didn't.  
And then, one bright fall morning, I made the mistake of looking in the mirror and moaned.  
"Whazzat? What's wrong?!" Jack bolted, appearing instantly behind me to steady me in case I fell.  
"Look at that!" I wailed. "It must be all that junk food I've been eating. I must've gained ten pounds at least!"  
He put his arms around me. "It's all right, Karen. The same thing happened to my mom once. She started jogging and worked it off in no time."  
I whirled around. "Do I look fat?!" I demanded.  
"No, you look great. You always look great," he added quickly.  
"You're lying." I stomped out, yelling behind me, "I'm gonna go work!"  
Which I did for a few hours, before giving up and going back home with a bottle of wine. I got back in bed, pulled the covers up over my head, and tried to sleep, but even that didn't work. Eventually I got up, sulky and tired, and stalked off to complain to Ann.  
She listened sympathetically and suggested, "You should go to the potion shop."  
"For what?" I asked. "It's not like I have a cold. And if they had a weight-loss potion...I mean, come on, look at the Gourmet judge." Yeah, I had it in for the Gourmet Judge. You should've heard what he said about my cooking at the last Vegetable Festival.  
"You got a better idea?" Ann asked. "Come on, Karen, we don't even have a doctor around here." She paused for a moment, and I knew she was thinking: 'If we did, my mom would still be alive...' Then she continued. "If you think something's wrong, about your only options are the potion shop or your mother."  
"I think I'll go with Mom," I told her, and so I hit the crossroads for the umpteenth time that day to get to the vineyard.  
Mom was still standing by the stairs, as usual, but today she was wearing an old leotard, and she was practicing steps. Her face was flushed, and she looked beautiful. "Hi, Karen," she greeted me.  
"Mom, I really think something's wrong with me," I told her flatly.  
She stopped moving, instantly in Full Mom Alert Mode. "What is it, dear?"  
I sighed and flopped on down lethargically on the blue sofa. "I dunno...ever since the start of summer, I've had this incredible craving for something sweet. But then I go down to the bakery and eat and nothing satisfies it. And then today I noticed...just look at this!" I exhaled and pointed to my stomach. "I'm putting on so much weight!"  
She crossed the room quickly to feel my forehead. "Have you felt sick to your stomach at all?" she asked. "Maybe early in the morning?"  
"Yeah, but that's just because of all the junk I've been eating," I told her.  
Mom studied me thoughtfully. "I have an idea."  
"What?" I asked, putting my hands over my eyes. She sat down on the edge of the sofa and smoothed my hair.  
"This is just a hunch, Karen," she began slowly, "but if I'm right... I think maybe you should go talk to the midwife."  
"What?!" I sat up violently, which was a mistake because it made my stomach ache again. "What are you saying?" I asked, a little calmer.  
"The cravings, the weight, the morning sickness...that's the only way I can think of to explain it." She grabbed my hands and pulled me up. "Go see if I'm right, then."  
  
The midwife, a tiny woman with thick gray braids, looked up at me. "Yep," she said, nodding sagely. "Yep. It's a baby."  
  
It was almost dark by the time I got home, but then I checked my watch and smacked myself on the forehead. The seventh of Fall...it was the night the Kifu fairies would come! I dashed inside.  
Jack looked up as I entered. "So you remembered, then," he said.  
"Come on!" I practically dragged him out the door, Ann-style. "It's almost time!"  
We ran to the vineyard. I could see the Spirit Tree at the edge of the vineyard, an almost imperceptible glow already radiating from it. I motioned for Jack to kneel just off the path and stay silent.  
As we watched, a silver mist began to fade up on the horizon. Slowly, it came nearer, rising and ebbing like a tide of stars, until it dissolved into the hundreds of tiny fairies. Softly, beautifully, they descended and swept in to begin their work.  
I stood, slowly, and came closer.  
Jack followed, a few steps behind me. And then I turned back to him and I was in his arms and we were dancing again, the way it had been a year ago.  
And there, surrounded by shimmering fragments of starlight, I whispered, "Jack...I have something to tell you..."  
"Yes, Karen?" I could see the lights and the glow of silver on rich purple grapes in his eyes.  
"We're...we're going to have a family, Jack."  
His mouth opened in surprise and amazement, and then he jumped up into the air, a wordless cry of joy escaping him.  
"Our wish came true!" He was shaking, and I realized both of us had tears in our eyes. "When?"  
"Winter."  
We both tried to speak; we both couldn't. Finally we just held each other, rocking back and forth while overhead, a thousand shooting stars completed their work. 


	25. The Dawn of Man

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 24: The Dawn of Man

* * *

Pregnancy was a little strange at first. Jack and I had figured out that we wanted children, but even when you're expecting it, it's always a shock when your stomach starts swelling, I guess.  
And it was a pain sometimes, too. The craving for sweets wore off after a while, but you try asking any pregnant woman what the best part about pregnancy is and just see if she says, "I just loved the whole feeling of being bloated and lethargic!" Actually, she probably won't say anything; she'll be too busy throwing up on you. I didn't really want to eat for a while, and Dad started hauling over food. He didn't even give it to me; he'd hand it to Jack and say, "here, cook this for her." So we'd go into the kitchen that night and figure out how to make chicken con broccoli or tomato quiche or whatever dietary monstrosity Dad had decided would be good for my health. Actually, most of it was okay, although I drew the line at a daily bowl of Popuri's herb salad. I have limits.  
Like any first-time parents, we were euphoric and probably went a little overboard. I even broke down and got Ann to teach me how to knit so I could make little baby-sweaters, which everyone cooed at admiringly when they came by to bring me gifts. Ooh, that's one of the cool things about pregnancy: everyone gives you presents. Of course, they're not presents that anyone would actually want, like painkillers or liquor (both of which the midwife made me lay off of the whole time), but little cutesy things like blankets and stuffed animals. Maria, who was the closest thing to artsy-craftsy we had on the island, brought me a little blue mouse-ears cap for the baby to wear. Ann and I considered keeping up our social-butterfly- izing-Maria plan, but after the Spirit Festival, it became apparent that it was unnecessary. We started seeing Harris in the library more and more, and then the two of them walking in the mountains together, and rumors were flying that Rick was making a bundle on blue feather sales. Elli still brought cakes every morning. In the Winter, she'd come around six so she could see Jack, but after he got married she started coming earlier again. There was still just a trace of acid in her eyes when she looked at my increasingly rounded stomach, but for the most part, she was recovering from her jealousy and we were getting back to normal. Normal was good.  
Aside from drinking, the midwife made me swear up and down that I would not, under any circumstances, work outside in the vineyard, especially during the summer and even more especially for long periods of time. I had to cut down my hours at the bar, too, and I had to sit down more. On an actual chair, too, instead of perching on the edge of Jack's table the way I normally did. Duke was very understanding about the whole thing, although I noticed there were tears in his eyes when he congratulated Jack, and I knew he must still miss his own child badly. They say there's nothing worse than losing a child, and I hope I never find out what that's like.  
I still worked on the farm some, doing simple things like crating the eggs. I couldn't work in the fields anymore, and I couldn't exert myself too much taking care of the animals, but I still managed to help. Rick came up with an air conditioning system to keep the greenhouse cool, so I could water the crops in there, too, and after the first minor explosion, it worked almost perfectly.  
Flower Bud Island is kind of a strange place. We're stuck with one foot in the present and one in the past, so to speak. We have indoor plumbing and running water coming out of our taps, but the wells in our front yards are still being used. There aren't many phones here, and there are no computers. Our houses are air conditioned, and although we later got a clinic, at the time there was no doctor on the island. We ordered what we needed from the mainland, and a few times a week the ferry would come and drop it off for us. No big factories, no tourists. But it was a life, and those of us who lived on that tiny island...we were generally happy, going through life amiably and, for the most part, enjoying it.  
Anyway.  
The library had a few maternity books, but the midwife looked like she was stockpiling them. If a rabid axe murderer broke in and demanded that she surrender all her maternity books, he'd have enough to read two or three a day for a year--and he'd need a forkload to get them out of there. I started reading them obsessively and spouting random bits of wisdom from them ("Jack, the baby takes nutrition from my body!"). For a while, my only captive audience was Jack--the older people exchanged knowing glances and the gang my age looked blank, confused, and somewhat embarassed.  
This changed when Ann burst onto the farm one morning to announce that she was pregnant. It's a tribute to the long years of friendship we've had and our ability to read each other that she said that first, because I was still half-asleep when she charged straight into the house, barreling past a totally bewildered Jack, and if I hadn't heard that she was going to have a baby I would have shoved her onto the floor and went back to sleep. Eventually she calmed down enough to talk coherently, and then Cliff wandered in and Jack sighed and started making the coffee. Cliff was bewildered but happy, although he came into the bar that night and worried for a while. Most of his problems were along the lines of "I have no idea how to raise a child!" Jack could empathize, and they whimpered about it to the tune of three or four shots while I glared into a glass of water. Kai saw my expression and promised me the first round when it was all over. Like Elli, he still looked a little glum when he saw me with Jack, or when I whined about morning sickness, but mostly he smiled and visibly tried to be happy for me. I have no doubt that, in some way, he was. Even if I'd turned him down, he was still determined to be there for me.  
It was the very beginning of Fall, the lazy golden-orange period when the world still thinks it's summer and the leaves are just beginning to change. One Sunday morning, I carefully wrapped up several books I'd ordered from the mainland, and Jack--bearing the last few Spring cabbages I'd made him save in the refridgerator--and I went to the church for Harris and Maria's wedding. I saw her that morning as the rest of us were helping to get her dress on and the flowers and music set up. Her hair was piled on her head, the white gown swirling around her as she moved. She wore no glasses and no makeup, but what made her beautiful was her eyes. They were shining, glowing with happiness and light. And I wondered if it was just today, or if she'd always had that beauty and no one had ever noticed it.  
Now only Kai, Rick, Gray, and Jeff were the eligible men in the village. I didn't hold out much hope for Rick, and Kai said there was no one he wanted to marry, but as for the last two, we figured it was only a matter of time. At the wedding, a shy Gray approached a shy Popuri and asked her to dance for the first time. Jeff found the coin in his piece of cake at the Harvest Festival that year, and Elli was definitely spending more time fishing. Ellen noticed this, and cackled about it to me frequently when I stopped by to pick up bread in the mornings. Rick saw it too. When I walked into his store, I noticed that he'd taken the time to build an elaborate display showcasing blue feathers.

* * *

Fall twenty-ninth dawned bright and crisp and clear. At least, that's what they tell me. Personally, I wasn't paying much attention to the weather. I woke up before dawn with the worst contractions and I knew it was coming.  
I punched Jack. "Whaa? Wazzat? Whassamatter?" he groaned, rubbing his eyes.  
"Go get my mother...and the midwife," I ordered hoarsely.  
He threw a pair of overalls on over his T-shirt and boxers and stumbled off as fast as he could to the vineyard. He returned five minutes later with Mom and the midwife.  
"Go!" the midwife ordered Jack. "You being here will not make it come any faster! Go do work and come back around three."  
I would learn later she had sent him out because she was afraid the baby would die.  
I was worrying through the haze of pain. "It's early. It's not due for more than a week."  
"Shh, shh," my mother comforted me, brushing sweat-drenched hair back from my face. "Try to relax."  
If you've ever had a baby, I don't have to tell you: that is REALLY stupid advice. It is impossible to relax when the reaction going on in your body is the equivalent of someone trying to drive a tractor through a Cheerio. I am exaggerating here, but only slightly.  
My personal defense mechanism was: forget most of it. The hours I spent in labor are very hazy, mostly cloudy with pain. I remember cursing a lot and the feeling of tears running down my face. I remember hearing Jack at the door, wanting to see me, the midwife turning him away sternly. I remember my mother sitting at my bedside, rubbing ice on her hand where I'd clenched it too hard. Strange what we remember. Those images stand out in my mind as if they're reflected in water. The rest of it was a painful blur.  
I remember the very end, though, squeezing my mother's hand again as the midwife cried "push!" and pushing with all my strength...and then a rush as I realized it was done. My child had been born.

* * *

The midwife picked it up, looked at it, and announced, "It's a boy." Expertly, she cleaned the baby's mouth, and it let out a cry. "He's alive," she said and studied it closer. "And he will stay alive," she added. "He's small, but he's a good strong boy."  
I choked and realized I'd forgotten to breathe. My mother wiped tears from my eyes and then her own.  
Jack burst in exactly at three, obviously having been pacing just outside the door for a long time. The baby was lying next to me in the bed.  
"Jack..." I said weakly.  
"I'm here, Karen," he replied. "I'm here."  
"Give him a name..." I whispered.  
There were tears in his eyes. Mine, too.  
Gently, he picked our son up and cradled him in his arms. "Welcome to the world, Adam," he said. 


	26. Last Words

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.  
  
This is really the last chapter, everyone. Sorry it took so long to finish. Thanks so much for reading Karen's story all the way to the end—it's been an interesting two years, hasn't it?   
  
Wine Red no Kokoro  
  
by flame mage  
  
Part 25: Last Words

* * *

Ann and Cliff's son Jacob was born a few weeks later, the day before the Star Night Festival--almost a week late. Leave it to the offspring of a laid-back person like Ann to be nearly a week late to his own birth. But I was happy for them, and I loved seeing the sparkle in my best friend's eyes. Cliff was smiling too, although he had gotten several bruises and a temporary cast from some injuries incurred during the birth. I'm still not sure how a guy like Cliff can survive dozens of encounters with wild beasts during his travels and be unable to avoid punches from a woman who's lying on her back in a bed, but knowing Ann, she could've gotten up and chased him around the room while she was having the baby. I pegged him as lucky to have gotten away with that, especially after bringing her a present with "Happy Birthday!" on the tag for their anniversary a few days before.  
Mom watched Adam during Star Night so Jack and I could go to the beach to watch the stars. The sky always seems so clear on Star Night, you feel like you can see forever.  
We had my birthday party at the farm that year. It was a little smaller than usual--my family, Ann, Cliff, Jacob, Kai and Duke were the only invited guests. We sat on the floor around the fireplace and talked. Cliff told a lot of stories about his adventures and the strange things he'd seen. Kai told us about his family. Even Duke surprised everyone with stories of the funny things that had happened to him as a bartender. It was a quiet evening, the glowing fire making it a spot of warmth in a cold winter. It was snowing outside. It was also a season after Adam's birth, and it was on that night that he started to crawl.  
I'd started drinking again after Adam was born, but I never went back to drinking the way I had been before getting married. I had lost the desire for oblivion, the burning need to forget and drown my loneliness and sorrow in a glass mug of alcohol. There were still days when I was tired and felt like I couldn't take another step, or when I got so frustrated with the baby's crying that I really wanted to scream. But all in all, life was great, and whatever was gonna happen next, I didn't want to miss it.  
Before you start thinking that I totally lost my edge, though, New Year's Eve was one thing that never changed. Jack and I went down to the bar for the party, and I finally made Kai buy me that round of drinks he'd promised me when I was pregnant. I can't say that he and Jack were ever best friends, but they got along.  
I still worked on the farm and vineyard some, and at the vineyard a few nights a week. Jack kept saying I didn't have to, that we had enough money. And he was right, actually. He'd started planting multiple-harvest crops like corn and tomatoes in the greenhouse, and he had been making a killer profit all year. Everyone wants fresh summer vegetables when it's below freezing outside. And in the winter, too, fresh strawberries...! I love strawberries...but sorry, I'm getting off track. I didn't stop working at the vineyard altogether because I liked it. It gave me a chance to talk to people, and even though the novelty of working in a bar had long since worn off in more than ten years of doing it, I guess I liked the feeling that I wasn't just a housewife. Ugh...  
All right, before Harris gets pelted with angry mail for me, It's not that I don't like housewives--homemakers, there--or don't think that what they do is important. Believe me, I do. My mother stayed at home to raise me too. But I don't think I could stay at home exclusively. With Adam, I was busy around the farm, but I felt like doing something for me was important. I was more than Jack's wife or Adam's mother; I was Karen, and to someone who spent a lot of her childhood hiding, that's important. So I guess that's why I kept working. I explained that to Jack, who replied that he understood totally and repeated what he'd said earlier about finding something you loved doing and doing it. We split up the work around the farm so that everything got done. He did the work with the crops and took care of the livestock; I collected eggs, and when I could, I sheared wool and milked cows. I did the laundry. All this got a lot easier when Adam learned to crawl and Jack could take him out during the day after the work was done. We still cooked together, but with one rule: I was the one who had to go through the recipes and come up with the menus. I agreed, but I made him choose the wine a couple nights a week to make it even.  
And so once again, live settled back down into a regular pattern until the inevitable but unthinkable finally happened. Rumplestiltskin came back to collect.

* * *

I was sitting at the table with Adam one morning, making a dragonfly out of the spoon so he'd eat (Maria taught me that one; I never would've figured it out otherwise) when Jack walked in and sat down heavily. He was looking at a piece of paper.  
"What happened?" I demanded. He pushed the paper across at me. It contained only two lines, exactly like the ones we'd gotten after our wedding and Adam's birth.  
  
"Jack: Remember the agreement. I'll be there to see the farm on Spring 30. Dad."  
  
"That's tomorrow..." I said, running a hand through my hair and stopping halfway down before realizing that it wasn't the hand with banana mush on it.  
He nodded. "Yep." He let out a long sigh and rubbed his temples. "You know what this means, right?"  
"Right. I'll get started booby-trapping the yard," I replied.  
"That might be the best idea, but that's not what I meant. If he doesn't think I've done a good job, he's going to sell the farm and yank me right back to the city."  
I stared at him. "There's no way. Don't we own this place?"  
"Not officially until Dad approves it after two years. That's what the 'agreement' is."  
"Oh, my god. What are we going to do?" I asked.  
"Foog?" Adam asked, looking at Jack.  
"Yep," Jack repeated. "That's what I said too. Looks like you're finally going to meet your other grandfather."

* * *

There wasn't much we could do to prepare. We washed and brushed all the animals until their coats gleamed. We harvested all the remaining Spring crops and made sure the flower patches were neat. I tried to straighten the house up.  
Neither of us slept well that night. Jack wanted so badly for his father to be proud of him. He tossed and turned next to me, unable to shut his mind up. I held him and tried to comfort him, but there wasn't much I could do. There wasn't much any of us could do. Whatever happened now was in God's hands--and Jack's father's.

* * *

It was a sunny day. I took the clean clothes off the line on the porch and then strung new clothes on to dry. There's something about things drying on a clothesline that makes a place look like home. I really wanted the farm to look like home. It wasn't just Jack on the line here: that day, he and I and Adam and all the rest of us would be judged. If we passed that judgement, we were safe. But if we failed, Jack would have to move to the city, and me...I'd go with him. As a child, I'd always dreamed of living there, but we were a part of this island now, and we were rooted here, to this soil.  
Jack fluttered around, unable to stand still. He had his baseball cap jammed on his head as if it were the last barrier between him and destruction, which maybe it was.  
At eight AM sharp the doorbell rang. I stood to get it, Adam in my arms, but Jack bolted and opened it.  
His father was a small man, with dark hair and a little mustache that made him seem like he was perpetually frowning. He wore thick glasses and a somber business suit that looked like it had picked up some dust on the way here, which he apparently wasn't thrilled about. I looked at him, conscious of the smile on my face, trying to judge his reaction to what he saw.  
No one spoke for a moment, and then Jack said, "Hello, Dad."

* * *

"Hello, Jack," his father replied. "It's been a while."  
"Yes, it has," agreed Jack. "Dad, I'd like you to meet my wife, Karen, and my son, Adam."  
I stepped forward to shake the man's hand. I expected the shake to be weak for some reason, but he had a firm, strong grip probably perfected through the experience of several thousand other shakes. It made me think that the man really could be a business shark. "It's an honor to finally meet you, sir," I said. "Jack's told me so much about you."  
"Nice to meet you as well." He turned to Adam. "And this...this is my grandson?" He looked up at me. "Well, he has my son's smile, but the eyes are yours."  
"How was the trip over?" Jack asked. We had entered the obligatory beginning-of-a-parental-visit that all adult children and parents go through when they haven't seen each other for a while, treating each other like acquaintences who've met at a party.  
"That ferry..." Jack's father still looked a little green. "I remembered how to get here. The place has certainly changed since the last time I saw it." He glanced around the room, taking it all in, evaluating it.  
"Here, have a seat," I offered, pushing a chair up. "Do you want some tea or something? We have some really great tea recipes."  
"That's all right," he said. "Jack, why don't you show me around the village? It's been so long..."  
Jack nodded. "Sure." He cast a glance at me as they left.  
"Well, Adam," I said. "Nothing we can do now but wait."

* * *

I decided to go through with the day as normally as I could and went outside, Adam toddling behind me. Ann stopped by while they were gone.  
"How's the evaluation going?" she asked.  
I shrugged. "Don't ask me. They went around to 'see the town' and they've been gone for hours."  
"Yeah, they came by the ranch. Jack's father asked if Jack was good with animals."  
"And of course he said yes," I prompted.  
"Yeah, of course. And Cliff and Gray and I all put in a good word for him. He's a good guy, and nobody wants to see you guys leave."  
"You think he'll like it, Ann?" I asked.  
She gave me a quick hug. "I know he will." Then she turned to go. "Better run before they get back. And remember--"  
"Nothing's better than being in good spirits!" we said together. "Puuf!" added Adam for emphasis.

* * *

They returned a half hour later to look around the farm. I shot Jack a questioning look and he smiled almost imperceptibly--it's okay. I breathed a tiny sigh of relief and started taking the laundry off the line and folding it. Adam was pulling on my shoelaces, so I gave him his blankie and helped him fold it. We folded a washcloth together before he lost interest. Kids today are so ungrateful.  
I finished the job on my own and put the clothes away inside. Then the two of us went out to the back porch to sit on the steps and wait.  
As my husband and my father-in-law wandered around, peering into the barn and the chicken coop and the greenhouse, inspecting the fields, climbing the stairs inside the house to look out over the farm from the loft, I heard snippets of questions.  
"Do you have friends here? You like the people?" "Definitely. I've met the best friends I've ever had here."  
"Do you like working on the farm?" "...I love it. It was hard at first, but now it's like second nature to me."  
Eventually they came down to sit on the back porch and talk. It was five PM when Ann, Cliff, and Jacob came, followed by Gray, Popuri, and Doug. Maria, Harris, and their new daughter Amy were next, followed by the Mayor and his wife. Then Lillia, Basil, Jeff, Elli, Ellen walking on a cane, Kai, my parents, the potion shop dealer, May, Stu, and Kent, the midwife, the shipper, the carpenters, the old couple from the restaurant on the mountain, Rick, Saibara, Duke, Greg the fisherman, the pastor, everyone. The entire village was there for us.  
"Hey, Jack. Hi, Karen." "Hi there, you guys. I brought the soup." "Jack, this is your father? It's so nice to meet you." "Good evening." "Hey." "Hello." "You're Jack's father? Your son is a great guy." Everyone greeted us as they filed onto the porch, setting food carefully on the table. When we ran out of room on the porch, we carried rocks over from the far edge of the field and turned them into chairs.  
"These are all your friends?" Jack's father asked, amazed.  
Jack grinned, his face in profile to his father as he flashed a secret wink at me. "Yep. We decided to throw a party so you could meet everyone. This is my best friend Cliff, and his wife Ann, and..."  
The party lasted long into the night. I couldn't remember the last time I'd laughed so hard. The best thing was that it wasn't an act. We'd asked everyone to come that night, but they'd come because they liked us and they wanted to. I knew that these people wouldn't lie. If they said they liked Jack and that he'd worked hard on the farm, they were telling what they thought. And knowing that these people really did think that he-- we--had done a good job meant the world to us.

* * *

Eventually, sometime around midnight, I guess, the crowd gradually left. Jack, Adam and I sat on the porch with Jack's father, talking.  
"Son?" the older man said. Jack's head turned instantly and he fell silent. I realized he'd never been called 'son' by his father before.  
"Yes, Dad?" was all Jack responded with.  
"I know that when your grandfather died, I didn't want you to take over the farm. I wanted you to stay in the city and work with me." He looked around. "This farm's always been in the family. It's the place where I was born. And...I think..." Here he looked straight into Jack's eyes. "I think your grandfather would be proud of you." He paused. "And I'm proud of you."  
A slow smile was spreading over Jack's face. "So I can stay?" he asked, like a little kid not quite believing the presents under the Christmas tree are for him.  
His father nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way."  
Suddenly, unexpectedly, father and son threw their arms around each other and embraced. I watched, probably almost as surprised as they were, and felt a grin coming across my own face, too. We were going to stay.  
When they released each other, I could've sworn I saw the glint of tears in their eyes. "I'll try to come and see you more often, son," said my father-in-law. "I'd like to get to know my daughter and my grandson better." He smiled at us, and I found myself smiling back.  
"You're staying the night, right?" Jack asked.  
His father shook his head. "I can't. The last ferry is waiting for me."  
They stood. "I'll walk you to the beach," Jack said.

* * *

Jack returned a few minutes later, coming to join me and Adam where we were standing on the porch.  
"So I guess it worked out," he said.  
"He was proud of you in the end. You did it, Jack. You earned his respect. Just like you always said," I replied.  
"I couldn't have done it without your help." He put an arm around my waist, pulling me closer. "I love you," he whispered into my ear.  
"I love you too," I whispered back, leaning my head against his shoulder.

* * *

We've been standing like that for a long time now, just listening to the sounds of a summer night and each other's breath and watching the stars. In my arms, Adam is cooing happily.  
"Jack?" I ask finally.  
"Yes?" he says, turning to look at me.  
"Did you ever figure out what your grandfather's last words were?"  
He doesn't speak for a moment, only looks at me. I can see the starlight reflected in his eyes.  
"Yes," he says finally.  
I don't ask. I don't have to ask. Sometimes you don't need words.  
Grandma knew that.  
And we stand there, the three of us, on the first of a lifetime of nights to come, waiting to greet the dawn. 


End file.
